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Minister of Education, Priya Manickchand on Friday met with teachers of Grade Five and Six, Headmasters/Headmistresses, Regional Education Officers (REDOs) and other relevant stakeholders in the education sector to discuss the way forward for National Grade Six Assessment (NGSA) in 2021.
Over 1000 attendees countrywide engaged in the webinar with the Minister and shared thoughts on how learning can improve, foster effective teaching amid the pandemic.
Among suggestions, was the uploading of all learning materials inclusive of textbooks to the Ministry of Education’s website. To this end, Minister Manickchand said the Ministry will be improving its website to facilitate better learning.
“You’re going to see an aggressively improved Ministry of Education website,” she said. It was also disclosed that work is being done to enhance their social media platforms, to better engage with stakeholders and the public.
Moreover, after receiving information about the difficulties of teachers in using online platforms, the Education Minister said that a massive training programme will be rolled out, to outfit teachers with the necessary training.
“We’re looking at making sure that teachers can be trained… So, very shortly you will see us rolling out mass teacher training, where we hope to ensure every single teacher in the system is trained presently. First, with an appreciation and understanding why these new forums provide so much opportunity and then how to apply and use the actual forum,” Minister Manickchand stated.
In addition to this, the Education Manickchand will be seeing the enhancement of the Guyana Learning Channel to enable more access and wider coverage to regions across the country. Teachers, parents and teachers can also expect print packages.
Other suggestions coming out of the meeting were, the postponement of NGSA 2021 from April to July/August 2021; curriculum review; and the resumption of some amount of face-to-face learning, through the introduction of a rotation system, reduced classroom size and transportation for students.
More discussions of this kind are expected as the Minister continues to engage with the relevant persons to ensure all voices are considered for a comprehensive plan. (DPI)
