$1.7 budgeted for the rehabilitation of schools
Over $300M set aside for blended learning options amid COVID-19
….Learning Channel to be expanded
Guyana’s Education Sector is in line to benefit from a monetary injection of $52B aimed at creating greater access to quality education in the country, at a time when it is hard hit by the Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19) Pandemic.
Schools in Guyana were closed in March, 2020 days after the first imported COVID-19 case was recorded in the country. To date, there have been 1,703 confirmed cases of the virus with 48 deaths. The pandemic has also disrupted education systems all over the world. An estimated 1.6 billion learners worldwide have been affected according to the UN statistics.
Of the $52B, over $1.7 billion is allocated for the construction and rehabilitation of schools across the country, Minister of Public Works, Juan Edghill in the absence of a finance minister Juan announced in the budget speech.
Cognizant of safeguarding the health and wellbeing of the nation’s children, Minister Edghill said the Government intends to deliver education safely and effectively using innovative methods. It is currently assessing the specific needs of students by levels, grades, regions and situations.
“Throughout the levels, grades and regions Government has embarked on instruction in different ways to deliver to our learners. The nursery students will be given individual home-based packages containing print material, manipulatives and other appropriate resources. The primary and secondary students will each receive work books and the core text books in math, English, social studies and science which they will use during this time and beyond,” he detailed.
These initiatives, he posited, will be complement the content and instruction being provided on the Learning Channel, which has already begun broadcasting structured formats that cater for each grade from nursery to Grade 9.
“We acknowledge that the Channel in its current composition fails to meet our needs across the country. Therefore, we will expand and upgrade so that 6 channels can run concurrently. This upgrade will also permit for hinterland communities that are currently unserved to be catered for,” he explained. In conjunction with this channel, a radio station will be established for the dedicated purpose of delivering education. Over $300M is allocated to these blended learning options.
Teachers, he noted, will be trained to deliver education using ICT.
With the anticipation of an eventual school reopening, provisions have been made for schools to be retrofitted with the necessary infrastructure to exist in a COVID-19 world. “Sinks with running water, proper ventilation, working toilets, the delivery of masks to our teachers, students and ancillary staff and adequate signage to promote safe behaviour in all learning institutions and in all schools are catered for in this Budget,” Minister Edghill detailed.
In the area of Tertiary Education, the Government has collaborated with the Commonwealth of Learning and Coursera to facilitate a wide cross-section of courses. Based on the minister’s report, more than 16,000 Guyanese have registered to date for online courses.
Additionally, the University of Guyana has moved its instruction online and will be using this time to do much needed renovations. “Lecturers have begun to teach using various means of ICT, but many have had to improvise learning as they went along. To support our tertiary institution, Government has allocated $3 billion to the University of Guyana. Of this amount, $221.3 million is allocated to complete and advance several roll-over projects across both campuses including the new sewer system, the human resources and bursary building, the pump house, teaching learning centre and electrical upgrade projects,” Edghill informed the National Assembly.
