Chief Education Officer Olato Sam recently presented learning aids to the St Ignatius Secondary School that will be used to implement a five-month project aimed at boosting test scores in Mathematics and English Language.
According to the Government Information Agency (GINA), the project targets fifth form students from secondary schools in Regions 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 9 and 10. It provides students and teachers with teaching and learning resources, inclusive of calculators, text books, solutions for Mathematics and English, learning DVDs and teaching guides. The project was implemented at the St Ignatius School in December.
On Friday, Sam presented the teaching and learning aids to the St Ignatius school’s head teacher Yvette Archer. In his address, he said, “Our aim at the Ministry is to ensure that students excel in their academics. These two subjects are important because if you don’t have Maths and English one can never be allowed into the University of Guyana or be the beneficiary of scholarships,” he said.
According to the Chief Education Officer, while perusing students’ performance over the last few years, government sought to implement the project as only 30 per cent of students passed Mathematics. Several programmes were implemented to assist in this regard, including the non-graduate and remediation programmes. Last year, the ministry said the pass rate for English A was 60.8 per cent, compared with 59.2 per cent in 2010. However, there was a decrease in Mathematics from 34.5 per cent to 30.4 in 2010.
“This has caused us to implement policies and programmes which will bring significant benefits in the short and longer terms,” Sam said. He also noted the need for more qualified teachers in the school system, and advised teachers at the Region Nine school to devise systems that would address students’ weaknesses. He also encouraged students to aspire to become teachers in order to serve their community.
GINA also said a team from the ministry, led by Education Minister Priya Manickchand embarked on several outreach exercises in December, where they interacted with parents, students and teachers. During the visit several weaknesses were highlighted and several suggestions made to address the problems. The team visited the Leonora, Stewartville and Zeeburg secondary schools in Region Three; and Abram Zuil, Anna Regina Multilateral and Aurora in Region Two.
