Guyana remains committed to inclusive, quality education – Pres Ali tells UN

…early warning system for slow learners among initiatives planned

President Dr Irfaan Ali on Monday updated the United Nations (UN) on Guyana’s continued commitment to providing inclusive, quality education for all, and the steps being taken to close gaps in the delivery of education.

He was at the time the co-chair of the Transforming Education Summit Leaders’ Roundtable 1 at the UN General Assembly. He used the opportunity to inform the world leaders gathered, of the challenges Guyana faces in educational delivery. Importantly, however, he also informed them of the steps the Guyana Government has been taking.
“Guyana remains committed to Sustainable Development Goal Number Four, an inclusive and quality education for all. Presently, however, there are educational gaps nationally, which can frustrate the objective. We’re adopting measures to narrow these gaps.”
“This includes introducing more in-person tutoring, reforming the national curriculum, extending the use of ICT (Information and Communications Technology) in education, increasing access to digital and non-digital resources and introducing distance education,” he said.
According to the President, the Government made efforts during the COVID-19 pandemic to pilot remote learning initiatives across Guyana. He explained some of the challenges faced with that system, including the inability of some students and teachers to integrate with the system.
“Remote learning was implemented and digital learning resources were provided. As expected, challenges were encountered. Many teachers were not fully comfortable with this form of delivery. And not all students’ diagnostic assessments, in numeracy and literacy, were conducted to assess the extent of such losses during the pandemic.”
“The data generated is being used as a guide for remedial measures. Among the measures being planned to recover from the learning losses, occasioned by the pandemic, are accelerated tutoring services. The creation of a learning platform to bring students back to grade level and an early warning system to identify students at risk of falling behind.”
The President also referenced the importance of trained teachers, calling them the backbone of the education system. According to him, they have the goal of achieving 100 per cent trained teachers in the classroom by the end of the decade. The President also referenced the “Because We Care” cash grant, the uniform allowance grant and the school feeding programme.
Prior to the session, UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres himself had urged Governments to prioritise budgetary spending on education. In the 2022 budget, $74.4 billion was allocated. Of that sum, $32.2 billion was spent by year end.

Breakfast programme
Earlier this month, the Government, through the Education Ministry, had launched a $267 million breakfast programme for all Grade Six students as part of the Ministry’s activities to observe Education Month 2022.
The National Breakfast Programme will provide daily breakfast to Grade Six students in the coastal regions – Region Two (Pomeroon-Supenaam); Region Three (Essequibo Islands-West Demerara); Region Four (Demerara-Mahaica); Region Five (Mahaica-Berbice); Region Six (East Berbice-Corentyne) and Region 10 (Upper Demerara-Berbice).
The Government of Guyana has said it will distribute a total of 193,679 “Because We Care” cash grants and school uniform allowances, with an estimated cost of over $5.8 billion in 2022. Each child in the public and private school system will receive $30,000 – $25,000 as the grant and $5000 as an allowance for school unform.
The “Because We Care” cash grant initiative was first introduced in 2014 and saw each public school child benefitting from $10,000. However, the initiative came to a halt by the A Partnership for National Unity/Alliance for Change (APNU/AFC) Government but was reinstated in 2020 after the current People’s Progressive Party Civic (PPP/C) Government went back into office.
In addition to resurrecting the programme, the PPP/C increased the value of the cash grant to $15,000. This was alongside the $4000 uniform grant, meaning every child received a total of $19,000.
The PPP/C Government has said that they will eventually increase this grant so that each student will receive $50,000 by 2025. (G3)