Twenty-five newly-appointed District Education Officers (DEOs) have been appointed to service the 10 Administrative Regions.
They benefited from a two-day workshop, which ended Tuesday at the National Centre for Educational Resource Development (NCERD), Kingston.
The initiation workshop was held under the theme “Education Officers – Creating and Sustaining a Culture of Excellence”.
UNICEF Representative Paolo Marchi, Acting Education Minister Nicolette Henry, Chief Education Officer Marcel Hutson, Deputy Chief Education Officer Donna Chapman and the newly appointed District Education Officers at the workshop
Acting Education Minister Nicolette Henry said the workshop was important to realising the quality changes the sector needs. She also committed the Government’s support to the DEOs so that they would make a difference in their assigned districts.
The Minister urged the DEOs to strive for excellence and to execute their duties with confidence, diligence, and professionalism.
“The Ministry of Education must be known for its culture of excellence. A culture of excellence within the Ministry provides meaning and purpose to work,” Henry said.
However, she pointed out that there has to be changes in the workers’ mindset if this culture was to be created and sustained.
The 25 new DEOs are learning the importance of the role they will play in strengthening the local education system.
Chief Education Officer (CEO) Marcel Huston said the workshop set a foundation for the DEOs. He also reiterated that the DEOs were critical to the process of transforming the landscape of education in Guyana.
“It will reinforce the Ministry’s mission to provide an education system that delivers quality education and training at all levels and particularly to eliminate illiteracy, modernise education and strengthen tolerance,” the CEO said.
United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) Representative Paolo Marchi highlighted the need for officers to get to know and understand the needs of their students, so that they could make decisions that would guide the implementation of effective education strategies.
This is the first time in Guyana’s history that such a large number of DEOs were appointed, all in efforts to strengthen the county’s education sector.
