Interviews and photos by
Tiffny Rhodius and Frances Abraham
Government launched its Education Television Broadcasting Service (ETBS) on Friday, promising to narrow the gap in the quality of education delivered countrywide. We asked some of the attendees at the launch what they felt about the new service. Here are their responses:
Petamber Persaud, literary activist – ‘I think that so many persons can benefit from this one source. It is very useful. The benefits, the possibilities, it’s all enormous.’
Evan Radhay Persaud, UG lecturer – ‘This is long overdue. I agree with
the President that this is going to revolutionise education in Guyana. When the signals reach all regions of Guyana, people will make use of this channel.’
Lorraine Harris, creative producer – ‘This initiative will take a lot of commitment and organising and can be successful with a lot of dedicated persons involved.’
Aisha Jones, host of Social Studies programme on ETBS – ‘I think the programme will be educational and entertaining at the same time. It’s definitely not going to be boring and I think it will be well received since it is more modernised than similar shows and it will grasp the interest of audience.’
Imran Shaw, student – ‘I think it’s very educational for youths like me. I think it will also help us morally. It’s distance learning so children may respond better since children enjoy watching TV and even find themselves addicted to certain programmes.’
Ashley Belle, public servant – ‘I expect it to be interesting like the radio programme, similar to this. I think it will also serve as entertainment and it should because children study all day in school, so they should make it different, so as to grasp the attention of children.’
Eshwar Dass, Regional Executive Officer of Region 8 – ‘The launch of today’s programme will be useful in Region 8, whenever it gets there. It will assist the region since the region has the highest percentage of untrained teachers. I think parents also will benefit because most parents have a limited level of education. But my main concern is when the channel will get to my region.’
Prudence Atherley, student – ‘I think it’s a really good idea for the ministry to do this. For instance, dropouts and persons who are not keen in school will benefit. Secondly, some persons cannot afford educational DVDs and such, so this provides them with something similar as the DVD for free.’
Pernell Christie, student – ‘I think it’s a good initiative and it is beneficial. Instead of some children being idle, this serves as a good way for them to use their time in a productive way and I would like to commend the government on this project.’
Jackie Ramsarran, overseas-based Guyanese – ‘I think this will be very good for children and also very beneficial. It will help students perform better at school and in their exams.’
