Having engaged extensively with the Commonwealth of Learning (CoL) to launch the Workforce Recovery Initiative in Guyana along with Coursera, Education Minister Priya Manickchand has been recognised as a Commonwealth Wise Woman.
Education Minister Priya Manickchand
She is now a mentor on the Commonwealth Wise Woman Mentoring Project. The Education Minister was instrumental in launching the Workforce Recovery Initiative programme in Guyana that offered 4000 free online courses from reputable universities through Coursera.
Since launching this programme on September 5, 2020, over 53,371 Guyanese registered to pursue courses in various areas, and 43,305 certificates have been issued to 9473 persons. Guyana has become the leading country under the Workforce Recovery Initiative as it relates to persons registered and graduates.
The advocacy for continuous and lifelong learning and the proactiveness of the Minister most likely came to the attention of the CoL because of the successful rolling out of the Coursera programme that was spearheaded by the Minister and the outstanding response it received from Guyanese.
According to the CoL, through the Commonwealth Wise Women (CWW) Mentoring project, the organisation plans to engage girls and women at the grassroots level in underserved communities to become part of the programme. Through the CWW project, the CoL plans to promote change by empowering girls and women to become leaders.
Minister Manickchand joins other global leaders who are mentors such as the Chief Executive Officer of the Commonwealth of Learning, Professor Asha Kanwar; Pro Vice-Chancellor and Principal of the University of the West Indies Open Campus, Dr Luz Longsworth; United Nations Under Secretary General and Executive Director of UN Women, Dr Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka and the Secretary General of the Commonwealth, The Rt Honourable Patricia Scotland, QC; and fellow Guyanese Dr Paulette Henry.
Minister Manickchand also plans to launch the Guyana Chapter of the CWW Mentoring Project to assist girls and women to recognise their value and achieve their full potential. She plans to involve mentors from all sectors to help with the successful mentoring of candidates from all across Guyana.
Biography
In recognising Minister Manickchand, CoL compiled a brief biography on her.
Minister Manickchand was first elected to Parliament in 2006 with the portfolio of Human Services and Social Security Minister. There, she was committed to addressing the scourge of violence against women and children. Towards this end, Manickchand published a National Policy on Domestic Violence and piloted laws in Parliament relating to the care, development, and protection of children.
Minister Manickchand initiated a countrywide campaign to stamp out sexual violence. That campaign realised a revolutionary sex offences law that was tabled by her and passed in Parliament. She also established the country’s first Childcare and Protection Agency and decentralised legal aid services from Georgetown and expanded it to six other regions, making access to justice for the vulnerable a reality.
Through her collaboration with the Private Sector, the Women of Worth economic initiative was established, a loan programme that provides low-interest and collateral-free loans to single-parent women from lower-income brackets who wish to start up or expand their businesses.
In 2014, Manickchand was conferred with an Honorary Doctorate from the Lesley University in Boston Massachusetts, USA. She is an attorney-at-law by profession, is married to a civil engineer, and has two children.
