48 trained teachers take up leadership role in Education Ministry

Forty-eight teachers who began the fifth Cadet Officers Training Programme in February 2019 graduated and are now Education Officers across the 11 education districts in Guyana.
On Friday, Education Minister Priya Manickchand welcomed the graduates into the cadre of leaders within the Ministry.
She told the newly minted officers that their completion of the programme means that they are now ready to begin their stint of leadership in the Ministry.
“You have become a leader in the Ministry of Education. I congratulate you for that without reservation,” Minister Manickchand said during the virtual graduation ceremony.
The cadets were told by the Education Minister that with guidance from senior officers at central Ministry, they are now collectively responsible for over 170,000 students. Manickchand said that the Ministry has confidence that the officers will deliver the quality of service that is necessary based on the training and resources they have benefited from.

She told the officers that they are entering the Ministry at a really exciting time as the Ministry is on the trajectory to increase its percentage of trained teachers in the system from 73 per cent to the high 90 per cent range where every teacher in the classroom will either be trained or actively undergoing training.
She said that it is also an exciting time for the Ministry whereby Technical Vocational Education and Training (TVET) is being implemented so that every child leaves secondary school with certification and training to make them employable or to move on to post-secondary or tertiary education.
Further, the new officers were told of the Ministry’s plan to ensure secondary education is equal across Guyana.
“Together we can turn all secondary schools into quality schools that will produce children that are marketable,” Manickchand said, adding that the Ministry will ensure that hinterland education and those children with special education needs are not left behind.
Meanwhile, Chief Education Officer, Dr Marcel Hutson said during his charge to the graduates that the programme was birthed out of the desire to produce Education Officers with the competence, wherewithal and pride that are considered necessary ingredients for the sustained transformation of the education sector. He said that today’s graduates are better able to understand the workings of the education system and to develop an appreciation of the needs of schools in the hinterland as well as those on the coast.
“This observation is important particularly as we contemplate closing the gaps in the performance between those schools in the hinterland and the coast,” Dr Hutson noted.
He said that it was not by accident that a strong leadership component was incorporated into the programme. Dr Hutson expressed the view that many of the problems faced by organisations stem from poor leadership. He charged the graduates not to be afraid of failing but to use it as a learning experience to succeed and keep going.