The STEMGuyana organization recently relaunched its outreach program to recruit more parents to its nationwide online ‘parent academy’ program. The academy was launched 18 months after the conclusion of a parent survey which indicated that fully 60% of parents indicated that they struggled to understand their children’s primary level Math homework. The stated purpose of the ‘parent academy’ is to empower parents by highlighting two major benefits –the first is giving them access direct access to lesson plans for all the topics their children will cover in 1st through 10th grades, and the second is to provide online (Diaspora) tutors, who will act as a resources to further explain requested topics and lessons for parents.
“Our children are struggling with literacy and numeracy and this problem has been exacerbated by the pandemic”, stated Executive Director, Karen Abrams. “According to a recent report issued by the World Bank and UNICEF, in collaboration with UNESCO, Four in five sixth graders in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) are expected to lack basic reading comprehension proficiency and that is a clear and present danger for our tiny and budding oil economy. Children who struggle with reading comprehension, will also struggle while learning to code or do Math or compete for high wage future careers.
The situation is a state of emergency which requires all hands on deck–it really will have to take the entire village. We all have to pitch in, no longer must we sit on the sidelines and point fingers at the Ministry of Education. This is a global problem, but the solution will also require local stakeholders and that’s why STEMGuyana is working with the IDB, Tullow Oil, the Guyana Diaspora, local parents and various government agencies to expand our learning pods program which provides technology integrated academic enrichment to children across 32 learning pods in 9 regions of Guyana. It’s also the reason why we are now pushing to extend the benefits to households across Guyana via the parent academy”, Abrams said.
All parents are encouraged to register online for the parent academy at this link.
STEMGuyana is also planning to host it’s annual summer virtual academy for children from 6yrs to 15yrs old and is looking for Corporate sponsors to reopen the partnership “Reading & Robotics” programs at all libraries across Guyana. The organization will also host a STEM club at the American Corner in the National Library beginning July, 2022. For more information, follow STEMGuyana’s facebook page.
