Dear Editor,
With COVID-19 having the world somewhat in a lockdown, the education sector is being greatly affected. Even though many parents are not working fulltime, and children are home most of the time, I expected there would be great improvement.
Incidentally, that’s not the case, even though the Government is trying its best to ensure there isn’t a lapse.
Many parents and children could be seen traversing to schools in order to submit their worksheets after completion. Data usage has increased immensely, as most of the work and research is being done through the internet.
Editor, many parents and children could be seen daily moving around with cellphones, and some attention is drawn to the phones as they do so.
Naturally, one would assume that they are well versed in using a cellphone, and are quite confident in surfing the internet, after being online for so much of the time. To my dismay, that expectation was shattered recently, based on an experience.
Due to the lockdown, many courses are being offered online, either free or at a small fee. In some cases, scholarships are being offered by many universities as a result of the collaboration between the Government of Guyana and the tertiary institutions. It should be noted that many courses being offered do not require any qualification, or minimal, if at all.
Knowing that this might be a rare opportunity, at all the places I frequent, I’ve been encouraging young people to embrace the opportunities and educate themselves. To many who seemed interested, I forwarded the links for them to register, but, to my amazement, upon following up to see if they were pursuing the opportunities, everyone was having a problem, and in most cases, the problems were the same.
Because everyone is in possession of a cellphone, I assumed that they would be able to go through the process easily. Instead, their complaints were that they cannot find the sites (even though I sent them the links). Many of them don’t even have an email address, and don’t know how to sign up to get one!
Nevertheless, I managed to assist some, and further advise them to pursue the opportunities.
Finally, Editor, I’ve said repeatedly that with the excitement behind the discovery of oil in Guyana, without a doubt, lots of skilled people would be attracted to Guyana, and if we are not prepared to contend with them for jobs, we would end up in a peculiar position.
Presently, lots of opportunities exist, and many more would be emerging for us to further our knowledge/skills. The way I am seeing it is that the Government of Guyana is making all attempts to ensure education is easily accessible, and equal opportunities exist for everyone.
For me, it doesn’t make any sense for someone to be walking around with the most expensive phone without knowing how to use it, except for Facebook, Whatsapp or making TikTok videos, when that same cellphone could make them enhance their career!
It tells me that we have a long way more to go.
Sincerely,
Sahadeo Bates
