Chief education officer’s role under scrutiny -Baksh

The Ministry of Education is reviewing education management in Guyana, Minister Shaik Baksh said, announcing his intention to change the dynamics within the central ministry and redefine the role of the Chief Education Officer.

The minister made this known during a meeting he held with Headmasters/ Mistresses of all of the nursery, primary and secondary schools in Region Two (Pomeroon/Supenaam) at the Anna Regina Multilateral School last Wednesday as part of a series of similar meetings he is holding throughout the country.

He said his vision is to implement a remedial education programme in all the regions whereby Parent Teacher Associations can work to increase attendance rates, create a learner friendly environment and minimize the dropout numbers at the primary and secondary school levels. “We are working towards the vision of better teacher-student relations,” the minister said.

The school Heads aired concerns such as the release of teachers from the region to attend the University of Guyana and the large numbers of untrained teachers in the nursery and primary schools. Baksh told them that the ministry is currently revising the system by which teachers are released to attend UG. He also noted that hundreds of teachers graduated each year from the Cyril Potter College of Education.

He said the ministry’s theme was ‘the delivery of quality education’ and urged the school administrators to work in partnership with all stakeholders to ensure the delivery of quality education in the region. He also took the opportunity to congratulate the educators, stressing that it was because of their hard work that the students of Region Two did exceedingly well at the 2006 Caribbean Secondary Education Certi-ficate examinations and as a result of their performance the region was awarded second place in the country.

Central and regional education officials accompanied the minister on his visit.