“We cannot keep institutions closed” – Education Minister

Having recognised the setback brought on by the closure of schools since the outbreak of COVID-19, Education Minister Priya Manickchand has positioned that the country’s educational institutions cannot be kept closed.

In the yearend briefing on Monday, it was stressed that while the Government has supported a blended learning approach for students, it is not the same as classroom learning. When students return for complete face-to-face learning, they will be introduced to the previous year’s curriculum.
“When you measure what children learned in that period with the worksheets, while it was by far better than nothing, it is not the same as face-to-face instruction and that is why we have to get back into the classroom, into a place where we have face-to-face instruction. When we get back into the classroom, a child is not going into Grade Four and doing Grade Four work. The child has to begin with the Grade Three work, finish that and then move on to Grade Four,” the Education Minister related.
Manickchand further added that learning has severely been affected following the closure. Reopened education institutions would include the University of Guyana, Cyril Potter College of Education, TVET institutions.
“I would expect that all education institutions, everybody having been given the chance to get vaccinated twice and boosted, that we see all these institutions opening to face-to-face learning. Even as we expect persons to use the good experiences of the mixed and blended approaches that had to be employed in the last year and a half, we expect to see people using both but we cannot keep institutions closed because our learners are being severely affected.”
She also insisted that online learning encompasses more than live lectures on online platforms. The University of Guyana would have to prepare in this regard, especially since teachers would need to complete two years of education at the facility to gain their Bachelor’s of Education Degree.
“Online does not mean standing in front of a camera on Zoom and teaching. Online education has a whole set of things attached to it, including libraries, tutorials, videos that are accessible…So the University of Guyana is going to have to get on board or we will have teachers with an Associate Degree and not the full degree. And that is not fair to the teachers, neither the children of this nation.”
Since the closure of schools, the Ministry has embarked on a number of initiatives to ensure that students remain engaged. However, with disparities in the system, the outcome has been far from what would have been achieved by face-to-face learning.
Studies have also shown that the longer schools are closed, the greater our students will be affected.
The Education Ministry printed thousands of worksheets for each grade which corresponded with the curriculum and what each child should have been learning if they were in the classroom. The Guyana Learning Channel undertook the production of recorded lessons done by local teachers on the various topics outlined in the curriculum.
In September, the Education Ministry announced that schools would reopen on a rotation basis while examination students would have a full-fledged reopening. Secondary schools were determined individually by their vaccination coverage.