Past and present ministers debate education delivery amid pandemic

….Henry says the most vulnerable learners not catered to in budget
…Manickchand contends best effort being put out for equitable education delivery

By Lisa Hamilton
Former Minister of Education, Nicolette Henry, on Thursday, debated that the most disadvantaged and marginalized students amid the pandemic have been done an injustice by Budget 2021. However, in rebuttal, Minister of Education, Priya Manickhand said that the PPP/C Administration is doing a better job than the coalition in a shorter period of time and the efforts have resulted in quality education delivery despite the pandemic.

In her presentation to the House, Henry said that given the global modifications in education delivery as a result of the pandemic, she expected a more robust and sustainable plan within Budget 2021 to mitigate the effects and the aftershocks of COVID-19.

Henry explained that students whose foundation of learning was challenged pre-pandemic are at greater risk of regression and therefore the Ministry of Education should have better advocated for their benefit in the budget.

The former Minister said that the PPP/C’s $15,000 ‘Because We Care’ cash grant is not the “end-all” to education challenges faced by the majority of Guyanese children and stressed that education delivery must include the training of parents, community leaders, and advocates during the pandemic.

“Where in this budget are the most vulnerable young people catered for? She questioned.

“As these debates are ongoing, many students, including teenage mothers and other disadvantaged populations, including learners from low-income households and remote areas, have not yet been engaged meaningfully for the new school year…you don’t even have to take my word for this, you only have to go on the various social media platforms, including the Ministry of Education’s Facebook page and get a sense of what is going on. Based on what is out there, I think it is both unfortunate and regrettable that so many people in difficult circumstances are not satisfied with the Ministry’s effort.”

Altogether, Henry told the House that Manickhand presided over a “woefully underperforming sector” prior to 2015 with performance at the national and regional examinations at unacceptable levels. Henry said that the APNU+AFC left the education sector in a better condition than it found it in but Budget 2021 would hamper many of the achievements thus far.

Taking the floor subsequently, Manickhand said that imagery put forward by Henry is false. She said that when the Government, in consultation with stakeholders, decided to reopen Fourth, Fifth and Sixth forms, it was ensured that all the requisite schools were cleaned and sanitized and each student and teacher was given COVID-19 sanitization packages. These provisions, she noted, will continue in Budget 2021.

Meanwhile, for those tuning in online, Minister Mannichand said that the PPP/C Administration ensured that the Guyana Learning Channel was improved for greater reach and service during the pandemic and an additional $500M towards its expansion is catered for in Budget 2021.

“Instead of one channel we’ll have six channels dedicated to learning and we will be able to take that learning channel to every single Amerindian village. We are giving to the villages television sets, solar systems, electricity and the satellite, the PPP/C Government is doing that,” she said.

Furthermore, the Education Minister said that though the coalition has criticized minuscule errors, the worksheet programme continues for students and the $15,000 cash grant, though criticised by the coalition, will impact the lives of parents and schoolchildren.

She also highlighted that teachers are being trained at record levels to meet the changes which have come to the education sector as a result of the pandemic.

Mannichand said: “This year, we’re going to have the most trainee teachers. This year, in COVID, when other countries are shutting down, Guyana is going to be spitting out the most trained teachers in this country because during COVID we innovated and came up with a plan to ensure we don’t stop training so that we don’t have a deficit 4-5 years down the line.”

Senior Minister within the Office of the President with responsibility for Finance, Dr. Ashni Singh, in his presentation of Budget 2021, said that the state of the public education system inherited by the PPP/C leaves much to be desired. He, therefore, announced the allocation of $60.7 billion for the education sector for the current year.