Education Ministry launches new National Literacy Programmes

Aug 08, 2025 News

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Kaieteur News – The Ministry of Education on Thursday officially launched its National Literacy Programmes which are aimed at ensuring every child knows how to read by the Grade Four level.

The programmes were launched by the Minister of Education, Priya Manickchand alongside other senior education officials, teachers and students at the Pegasus Suites and Corporate Center, Georgetown.

Providing an overview of the new and reviewed Literacy Programmes at yesterday’s ceremony was Assistant Chief Education Officer for Literacy, Stembiso Grant who stated that it is a comprehensive research-driven and culturally grounded set of initiatives that will transform literacy, teaching and learning, from nursery to secondary and beyond.

She said that these programmes encapsulate a transformative set of initiatives that embody the government’s unwavering commitment to ensure that “every child, from our earliest nursery learners, will read with confidence, write with clarity and dream without limits.  Today’s launch is built on the foundation laid by those who came before me, and I must therefore acknowledge the work of Miss Samantha Williams, the former Chief Education Officer for Literacy and other persons whose steadfast commitment to literacy create a pathway for us to build upon.”

Recalling how the Literacy Programmes came about, Grant shared, “Our renewed literacy journey began in September 2023 when I met with the Honourable Minister, Priya Manickchand. At this meeting, she issues a clear and urgent charge ‘We cannot have children in our schools not reading, Stembi we have to get them reading, tell me what to do’, that directive ignited engagement with head teachers, teachers, parents, literacy experts and education officers.”

She noted this was done to diagnose the challenges, explore the solutions and design a literacy structure that would meet the needs of all learners from the youngest nursery pupils to struggling readers in secondary schools.

“We listened to their challenges, their aspirations and their innovative ideas from these voices and guided by extensive research and my, oh, my, we did a lot of research and best practices from across the globe, a new and revised literacy program was born,” she added.

Further, the Assistant Chief Education Officer said the National Literacy Programmes form a continuum from explicit phonemic awareness and phonics at the early childhood level to structured comprehension and fluency development in primary and targeted inventions through the BRIGHT program in both primary and secondary schools.

This is a model that ensures no learner is left behind, she asserted.

“Friends, this initiative is a national movement from establishing and revitalizing school libraries, establishing reading clubs, strengthening community libraries and collaborating with our partners. This initiative is grounded in the science of reading, supported by culturally relevant resources, and delivered with the belief that literacy is the right of every citizen,” Grant said during her remarks.

Noting that the National Literacy Programmes is a systematic structure that ensures intentional teaching of literacy at every level, among some of its programmes and initiatives, Grant revealed that at the nursery level they have revised the literacy learning sections so that for the first time every child receives daily structured foundational literacy instruction. Also they have introduced the Adventures with letters and sounds, teacher’s edition among other revised nursery literacy workbooks.

At the primary level, the National Literacy Department has revised the timetables to include daily 15 minutes of letters and sounds. This is to build and reinforce phonemic awareness phonics and spelling rules using the Adventures with letters and sounds. There is also the introduction of a Larner’s guides, which will be given to every child upon entry into grade one, and will be used until grade six.

Additionally, embedded in this structure is the ‘Bringing reading improvements to greater heights together (BRIGHT) Intervention Program which will be begin from grade two. It was announced that this program will be for learners who are reading below grade level and will be used at the secondary level.

Starting September, there will be literacy support teachers in the schools, who will be there to strictly do the intervention program that is developed. Notably, there was also a literacy website that has been created to provide comprehensive access to literacy resources aimed at supporting children’s reading development across all schools. It also offers professional guidance and instructional tools for teachers at all levels.

Meanwhile, in her featured address, Minister Manickchand said through the National Literacy Programmes they are trying to address children who come into the system and do not meet the benchmarks they have to meet at the end of nursery, primary and secondary as far as literacy goes.

“We’re trying to address children who are in the system at nursery, at primary, at secondary, and cannot yet read at the age-appropriate level. We’re trying to address people who the system has failed and have left the system so they are no longer in school. How do we make sure they are literate, even outside of school and that is why it is very simply the National Literacy Programmes,” she noted in her remarks.

According to the minister, this is a collection of programmes that aim at resolving all of the challenges within a four-to-five-year period and that it has to involve a partnership with the literacy department, with parents, teachers, children, and with a high level of accountability. “If the only thing we can do is make sure every child is reading by Grade four, then we would have had a remarkably successful program,” she expressed.

Minister Manickchand related too that the Literacy Programmes are the “game changer” in the education system along with trained teachers, with schools, and with support for families. “This is the game changer in the education system and so we are asking for stakeholders’ support,” she pointed out.

Further, she related that this is the most comprehensive package they have ever done as a ministry and as a country for every level of children all across Guyana. “And I suspect strongly that this is going to be a programme that our Caribbean brothers and sisters utilize also, because we’re not selfish people, all of this will be on our website, so you can have it in school for your children and you can print it out to follow at home for yourselves,” she said.

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• literacy, National Literacy Programmes, Pegasus Hotel, Priya Manickchand

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