Making it clear that the government will continue to keep schools open and has, in fact, been reopening schools in a manner that follows international practice, Education Minister Priya Manickchand on Wednesday lambasted the A Partnership for National Unity/Alliance For Change (APNU/AFC) Opposition for opposing school reopening.
The Minister was at the time making her contribution to the 2022 Budget debate on Wednesday. She assured that the Government would, at some point in time, provide free lessons to the entire school population, through the Learning Channel and radio. She said this was catered for in the Budget. What Government will not do, however, is close schools again, lest more students are negatively impacted in their schooling.
According to Manickchand, the APNU/AFC has made conflicting statements when it comes to whether schools should be reopened or not, in light of the COVID-19 pandemic. She noted that in one instance, Opposition Members of Parliament (MPs) lamented in the National Assembly the difficulties of online learning and poor Internet connections, while in another instance they called for the schools to be closed.
“The APNU/AFC does not believe in the opening of schools. You heard it here, close down the schools… we closed schools here in March 2020, just like the rest of the world. At that time, 109 countries endured countrywide school closures. By September 2020, just after (former Education Minister Nicolette Henry) left office, only 40 countries were still under countrywide closure.”
“By November 2020, 30 countries. Guyana was not one of those countries. By September, 22 countries. By November 2021, eight countries in the world had their entire school population closed and by January 2022, three countries in this world remained closed,’ Manickchand said.
According to Manickchand, it is, therefore, backward thinking to advocate for schools to be closed at a time when it is important for students to be integrated back into the school system, lest they fall through the cracks. She gave some statistics closer to home.
“Our reopening has been very consistent with how the world behaved during the pandemic. We, on November 9, 2020, partially reopened for the higher grades. Then, by June 2021, we opened for Grade Six.”
“Then by September, we reopened for everybody, but on a rotational basis. January 2022, we reopened for 8 to 11… we had to be resolute and close our minds to the noise, and do what was best for our children. Up to two weeks ago, they (APNU/AFC) issued a statement: close all the schools.”
The Minister noted that statistically speaking, vast numbers of students who would otherwise have written the Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate (CSEC) exams were not able to write it. This is compounded by the social problems these students face.
“Here, the highest number the Ministry has recorded, more than 70 children pregnant. A particular secondary school reported yesterday that while its Grade 10 has 130 students registered on its roll, five have registered for CSEC,” she said.
“Right here in Guyana in 2020, 11,946 registered to write CXC and 494 were absent. In 2021, out of 9823, 553 were absent. You are risking losing these kids forever,” the Education Minister said.
In September of last year when schools reopened for face-to-face learning, the Education Ministry had announced it would be utilising the Guyana Diagnostics Assessment and consolidated curriculum to ensure that students were abreast in the given modalities and subject areas, given the impact brought on by the coronavirus disruptions.
It was expected to include content, teaching strategies and assessments for students. The consolidated curriculum is not a new tool, but the same one teachers are exposed to. However, it is “tightening” the existing curriculum, bearing no compromises but simply seeking to effectively utilise time to meet grade-level objectives up to Grade Nine.
APNU/AFC is not the only group to call for schools to be closed. Similar calls have been made by the Guyana Teachers Union (GTU), whose President Mark Lyte officially called on the Education Ministry to close schools for 14 days amid a COVID-19 surge.
