Public education system boosted with 377 new teachers

Guyana’s public education system has been boosted with the influx of over 370 newly trained teachers who graduated from the Cyril Potter College of Education (CPCE) on Friday.
The 85th graduation ceremony was held under the theme: “Re-branding teacher education through verbal and visual identities”.
Of the 377 graduates, who hailed from all three branches countrywide, 82 are trained in early childhood, 125 trained in primary and 170 in the secondary level.
The 2019 graduating class consisted of 84 per cent females and a mere 16 per cent males. The subjects with high percentages of graduates are Agricultural Science, Business Studies, English Language, Industry Technology, Sciences and Social Studies.
Delivering the feature address at the CPCE convocation ceremony, President David Granger noted that Guyana is expected to undergo vast transformations over the next 20 years especially with the launch of the “Decade of Development” initiative in January 2020.
According to the Head of State, teachers have a key role to play in the new Guyana that is being created and are expected to be the drivers of economic development. As such, he told the new graduates that they will be responsible for developing leaders for the future.
“Our children’s future is in your hands. The world depends on its teachers to help to bring out the best in its children by encouraging them to seek knowledge and skills needed to drive these knowledge-based societies of the future. Guyana looks to you to generate the human resources necessary to support economic transformation. It cannot be otherwise,” the President asserted.

He went on to assure the newly trained teachers that their contributions towards the development of the country will be recognised and their labour rewarded.
President Granger continued by reflecting on the life and contributions of Guyanese educator Cyril Potter. He urged graduates to not only look at Potter as a role model but strive to emulate his many great qualities. This, he noted, is important especially since they too will be looked at as role models for the children they will be teaching and will have to pass on such qualities.

Meanwhile, Education Minister Nicolette Henry underscored the need for the newly trained teachers to understand the paradigm shift in a 21st century education sector.
On the other hand, Principal of CPCE, Viola Rowe told the 2019 graduating class that they are now new ambassadors of excellence and need to rebrand the college with the work they do going forward.
“Go out there, teach the way you were prepared to teach and act the way you were thought to behave. Go well Ambassadors of Excellence, go and rebrand your alma mater… You can brand your alma mater by exercising your duty of care, engaging learners to set and achieve realistic goals, and by encouraging creativity and innovation in classrooms,” Rowe charged.
During Friday’s ceremony at the National Cultural Centre, this year’s best graduating student, Ateisha Brandt, was presented with the President’s Award from the Head of State.