Minister Manickchand panellist at Global Education Meeting

The Honourable Minister of Education Priya Manickchand participated today in an Extraordinary Session of the Global Education Meeting on Education post-COVID-19.

In her presentation, Minister Manickchand said that in Guyana approximately 170,000 children pupils and students aged three years, six months to 15 years and over, enrolled in public and private schools have been affected by school closures since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in March 2020.

She told the panel that this forced school closure places at high risk the gains made to the delivery of education and learning at all levels, especially for the vulnerable groups including children with special education needs and those living in the riverine, coastal-rural and hinterland communities.

She explained her greatest worry lies with the poor of the hinterland regions of one, seven, eight and nine where the largest proportion of the indigenous population resides. Minister Manickchand added that these regions account for 33% of schools, 15% of teachers and 18% of learners at the basic level.

Further, the Education Minister explained what obtains in the coastal regions. She said, “However, it should be noted that there are communities/riverine areas in coastal regions (2,3,4,5,6 and 10) that are considered vulnerable communities with similar levels of poverty as those in the above-mentioned hinterland regions. The vulnerable group in the coastal areas account for 28% of schools 18% of teachers and 16% learners.”

Moreover, Minister Manickchand told the meeting that the delayed elections results exacerbated the effects of the disrupted schooling following the March 2020 General and Regional Elections. “During these six months, learning continuity was limited and non-existent in some instances, due to lack of budgetary allocations, organisation and policy direction”, Minister Manickchand remarked.

She said that the assumption of a new government resulted in the tabling of an emergency budget which focused on enhancing the welfare and protecting the people in a COVID-19 environment.

“Among the key priorities of the new government is the need to ensure the health and well-being of our citizenry are protected; through the allocation of a 51.7 billion GYD budget to the health sector, which represents 15.7% of the national budget. The education sector was allocated 52 billion GYD or 15.8% of the overall national budget, the Education Minister explained.

She said that with funding from the National Budget and international funding from the Global Partnership for Education, the Ministry of Education will be enabled to regroup, focus, expand and enhance its efforts by facilitating more comprehensively, learning continuity for all Guyanese students affected by school closure and upon re-opening.

“These efforts include but are not limited to, a re-imagining, upgrade and expansion of the Guyana Learning Channel on television to widen its reach to children generally and particularly in communities that do not have access to internet connectivity. This channel now offers daily timetabled lessons to students across the nursery, primary and secondary levels. Radio has also been widely used to provide daily timetabled instruction and activities to our primary-aged pupils,” the Education Minister explained to the panel.

She added that the Ministry of Education has also expanded its online presence by upgrading its website to provide access to structured teaching and learning materials across levels to cater to children who have access to connectivity.

Further, she said that as of October 2020, the Government of Guyana will procure and deliver home-based packages of worksheets and other learning materials for the first term of this new academic year. Cognizant of the toll this pandemic and political situation in Guyana has had and continue to have on our students, Minister Manickchand said that the government with financing from foreign and domestic sources will be providing the necessary psychosocial support for the students of Guyana.

The Education Minister also said that this combination of local and international funding has also allowed the Ministry to accelerate funding and preparation for a return to school by enabling the retrofitting of schools with the adequate sanitization facilities and provision of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) for teachers and ancillary staff.

Minister Manickchand said that her government remains resolute in protecting its human capital and has committed to maintaining and sustaining domestic and foreign financing in education.

The purpose of the meeting which was held virtually was to highlight the importance financing in education particularly during COVID times so that the sector does not become overshadowed or that financing reduces due to economic decline particularly since education can be an effective driver of economic recovery and sustainable development.