Young teachers were yesterday challenged to opt to work in remote areas, while students were urged to take every opportunity to study as the world demands well educated citizens.
Speaking to hundreds of students and teachers at a rally in the National Park yesterday to observe Education Month, President Donald Ramotar resisted singing and instead read the lyrics of “Education is Essential,” a song by the Mighty Sparrow, to emphasise his point: “Go to school and learn well//Otherwise later on in life you will catch real hell//Because without an education in your head// Your whole life will be all misery and you better off dead//There is simply no room in this whole wide world//For an uneducated little boy or girl…”
He said Sparrow’s words exemplify what the Ministry of Education has to prepare students for. The singer, he said, saw that education is not only a nice thing to have so that you can read and write, but is vital for social and economic development. “That is why we have been investing heavily in our people,” he said. “That is why over the last two decades, you will see that we have changed the pattern of how our budget is constructed and how our money is spent.”
According to Ramotar, the biggest amount of the social sector budget goes to education, while the second amount goes to health, because education and health complement each other. “An educated person,” he opined, “is likely to have less dangerous habits like smoking and drinking, or abusing drugs and is a person who is expected to learn more and to learn faster.”
He said government looks at education in its totality from the beginning and acknowledges that people continue to learn throughout their lives. He said testament to that is the fact that Guyana has the highest enrolment rate in nursery schools in the Caribbean. “This is important because the earlier we involve our children in schools, into the atmosphere of learning, the more we expect them to be successful and to be able to carry on, not only to pass their exams, but to live successful adult lives as well,” he said. In that regard, he added, nursery schools are being built in almost every community throughout the country to encourage more parents to send their young children to school.
Challenges
With the achievement of universal primary education, the president said that the challenge now is to raise the quality of education. He said he suspected that the theme for Education Month, ‘Literate by grade four through consistent home, school and community involvement’ is largely because there are not enough qualified teachers in interior areas. “We have to correct that and the young are the most pioneering in spirit,” he said, “and for that reason I will expect that young teachers will take up the challenge to go… and fall in love again with our beautiful country.”
He said that universal secondary education is on the government agenda as well. Ramotar said more teachers have been trained over the past five years, increasing the proportion of trained teachers from 58% to 72%. “But we hope that in the not too distant future that we will have 100% trained teachers graduating from our tertiary institutions,” he declared.
Asserting that evidence of his government’s commitment to education can be seen every day, he noted that a new secondary school is being built at Zeeburg, another on the East Coast Demerara, a third at La Parfait Harmonie where the population has grown and in interior
locations, such as Paramakatoi and Kato. “So that regardless of where you live, education will be possible for all,” he said.
The government is also working to ensure that graduates from the University of Guyana and other tertiary institutions would have received the highest quality education.
He said he was disappointed that the university student loan had been cut by the opposition and after that cut was restored, “their reaction was a no-confidence motion. But that is not a no-confidence in me. That is a no-confidence in our young people and that is a no-confidence to all of us here, who are fighting for a better
quality education in our country.
“We know that sometimes we are hamstrung by ill-advised policies and actions, by shortsighted or people who do not have a vision for the development for our country, or maybe they are just bitter and angry with the world.”
Before the rally, students and teachers from various schools assembled at Parade Ground and marched to the National Park, which was packed for the event.
Education Minister Priya Manickchand led the procession and some students danced excitedly on the way to the park, where they were met with deafening applause.
During her address, she emphasised that the theme should not only be valid for this month but for years to come and she emphasised that the Education Ministry would work very hard and implement strategies for this goal to be achieved.
Manickchand also noted that teamwork is essential for goals to be achieved and she called on parents to play a more integral part in their children’s educational life and not leave everything up to their teachers. She also told the teachers they should teach cautiously and monitor their students to see if they are learning.
She also called on political leaders David Granger and Khemraj Ramjattan to help the government to achieve. To conclude her speech, she said that the Ministry is open to suggestions about what it can do to make its plans better, as goals are not achieved by waving a magic wand, but by hard work and cooperation.
A dance by students of South Ruimveldt Secondary School was the standout among the cultural items at the rally and it was met with resounding applause by the crowd.
