Latest update November 29th, 2024 1:00 AM
Govt. to build more than 13 new schools this year – Ed. Minister
Minister of Education, Priya Manickchand
Kaieteur News – The government of Guyana intends to build more than 13 new schools this year in a bid to ensure all children have access to education. The 13 new schools will be a mixture of nursery, primary and secondary schools.
During an interview with an online programme called ‘The Guyana Dialogue’ on Thursday, Minister of Education Priya Manickchand said that while the country has achieved universal primary education, the government has been making several steps towards universal secondary education as well.
“It’s a massive access programme that we are trying very hard to make sure there is access to every single child regardless of where they live, to secondary education,” she said.
Minister Manickchand highlighted some of the steps taken by her ministry to achieve universal secondary education. She spoke to the completion of the Abram Zuil Secondary School in Region Two, the Good Hope Secondary on the East Coast of Demerara (ECD) and the Yarrowkabra Secondary School located on the Soesdyke / Linden Highway.
Currently, the North West Secondary, Hosororo Seconday and Kwebanna Secondary Schools, all located in Region One, the secondary school at Tuschen, Region Three and the secondary school at Karasabai, Region Nine are under construction.
Further, the schools in Georgetown that have been destroyed by fire: St. George’s High School, Christ Church Secondary, North Ruimveldt Multilateral and of St. Mary’s Secondary are being reconstructed.
“We are going to start Vreed-en-Hoop and Nismes in Region Three shortly. Sometime within the course of this year, in Region Four we are going to build one at Prospect, in Region Six at Orealla, in Region Seven at Jawalla, in Region Eight at Kopinang, and in Region 10 we are going to be constructing a brand new school, it would be the Christianburg Multilateral,” the Minister said.
Having achieved universal primary education, the minister said her government is still going to build primary schools and this is due to the fact that the country is “developing so rapidly” and the Housing Ministry is opening up more and more housing areas.
“We have new communities rising up, we actually have to plan for primary schools there, and so this year we will be beginning six large primary schools in various regions, namely at Rec Dorsey in Region Three, in Region Nine at Tabatinga and at various places along the coast land,” she briefed.
The minister said too that the ministry will ensure that the schools have sufficient seating and improved quality of education.
Regarding quality, minister Manickchand said her ministry is working to ensure that more teachers are trained. “So it’s both quality and quantity,” the education minister stated while noting that 99 percent of the country’s teachers are trained and/ or are in training.
The high percentage of trained teachers is as a result of the Ministry of Education extending the programme offered by the Cyril Potter College of Education (CPCE) to online lectures. The CPCE now offers hybrid classes and this is dependent on where the trainees reside.
Last year, some 1800 persons graduated from the CPCE in comparison to 535 persons in 2022.
Meanwhile, Minister Manickchand said that efforts are being made to ensure that all students have access to textbooks and other resources needed in the classroom.
“So there is going to be no shortage this year and so there are a number of things that we are trying to do,” she mentioned.
The Ministry of Education has been allocated some $135.2 billion in this year’s budget with $28.7 billion set aside for the construction, rehabilitation and maintenance of school buildings and educational facilities across the country and $3 billion for the procurement of textbooks.
Approximately $16 billion will be for the construction of secondary schools, over $3.1 billion for primary school and over $3 billion for nursery schools structures.
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