Dear Editor,
We recently witnessed the removal of Dr Rupert Roopnaraine from being Minister of Education, and the installation of Nicolette Henry as the new Education Minister. Many Guyanese, including the Working People’s Alliance (WPA), blasted the Government for making such a move, since Dr Roopnaraine will now head a department within the Ministry of Presidency. Their reasons generally floated around politics and consultation, but I wish to bring to your attention a different angle to this reckless move by the Government.
Let me first share a few points which were carried in the media on Monday, 19th June, 2017:
1. “According to Harmon, ‘the Department will oversee the implementation of innovations and reform in the education system. These functions will be removed from the Ministry of Education and placed in the hands of technical persons. These persons will also pay attention to the findings from the CoI and other areas of concern in the sector that need to be immediately addressed.
2. Harmon said, ‘The new department will allow for the development of policies and programmes needed for the long term development of the sector’
3. The Government is now requesting .6 M to create this new department.”
Taking the points listed above, it is clear that the Government is removing important sections from the Ministry of Education and creating a “New Department.” Therefore, the MoE will have less work to do with the same amount of staff, including the three technical advisors: Vincent Alexander, Cheryl Sampson and Allan Munroe, (together they are receiving approximately million per month), who should be assisting with policies.
If you ask any teacher or education officer, they will tell you that education in our country is driven mainly by policies. These policies affect the day-to-day management of our schools, including the actions by teachers and performance of our students.
Almost everything happening in the school system is propelled by policies, which are drafted and sent by the MoE with the input from the Minister, Advisors, CEO and other senior education officials. Therefore, by removing the power to develop and implement policies from the MoE, the MoE will not service its intended purposes.
The Government is also requesting .6M, inclusive of .3M for contract employees; .06M for clerical and office support, and .53M for other direct labour costs; approximately M. In reality, our nation is adding .6M more to the Education Sector, which already collected the largest slice of our 2017 budget (.1B, or 17.2% of the national budget), for programmes which it already budgeted for. Anyone can look at the budgetary allocations and see there are sums of money allocated for development of policies and programmes, and for implementation of innovations and reform in the education system; this is an ongoing process.
With all this in mind, Minister Nicolette Henry does not need advisors, since she would only implement and administer work given to her by this “New Department.” She will be advised by this new department.”
Sincerely,
Suresh Singh
Young educator
