The Ministry of Education is to introduce a Grade Four literacy certificate from next year in a move to push the school system to perform at a higher level, while putting pressure on the teachers, parents and school managers, the Government Information Agency (GINA) reported.
Minister of Education Shaik Baksh made the announcement in a recent address to students of the Cyril Potter College of Education (CPCE) at the institution’s auditorium, where he highlighted plans to improve the livelihood of teachers and their roles in society.
Minister Baksh also disclosed a reform agenda for teacher education and training, and to get this in motion changes have been made to the college’s board, management, and lecturers would be facilitated to upgrade their qualifications, GINA stated.
These changes would see the addition of lecturers from the University of Guyana’s School of Education to the CPCE board, and the college’s lecturers would receive additional training that is purposeful.
With the upgrade of lecturers’ qualifications to the Master’s level, the college would see the design of new and modernised courses in order to move the quality of education to a higher level.
Meanwhile, Baksh emphasised the need for the redesign of the curriculum, where students would have problem solving skills, creativity, communication skills and processing skills, instead of a curriculum filled with theoretical work. And CPCE students were encouraged to use the available technology and as part of the reform agenda, the ministry is ensuring that the IT labs are fully equipped and modernized.
With the improvement of the teaching force as one of its goals, the Ministry of Education would proceed to offer the Associate Degree in Education at CPCE from September 2010. All new students would be afforded the opportunity to pursue the degree programme. Baksh also noted that it is important for teachers to be aware of the lifestyles, backgrounds and abilities of their students and to pay more attention to those students who are slow academically.
To address this aspect, he said the ministry has begun providing literacy and numeracy programmes to assist those children who recently wrote the National Grade Six Assessment to have a smooth transition into the secondary school system.
This changeover, Baksh said, is very challenging so a six-year secondary programme has been initiated to address areas where the primary schools have failed, GINA reported.
