As the Cyril Potter College of Education (CPCE) on Thursday staged its 83rd Graduation Exercises, 468 trained personnel have entered the teaching profession, fully equipped to employ the methods of STEAM ( Science, Technology, Engineering Arts and Math) in classrooms across the country.
As such, this year’s event was held under the theme: “Going Green Through STEAM,” which zooms in on the College’s new approach of aligning itself with President David Granger’s Green State mission.
Of the over 400 trained professionals graduating CPCE this year, 126 will be deployed to early childhood training institutions, 164 to primary level institutions and the remaining 178 will be attached the secondary schools, expanding throughout the 10 Administrative Regions of Guyana.
Of this total, 36 have managed to secure Distinctions in their individual academic pursuits, with the majority of 423 graduating with Credit. However, 3 teachers have left the college having attained a Pass.
This is according to the College’s Principal Viola Rowe, during her presentation of the year’s report at the ceremony hosted at the National Cultural Centre.
In doing so, she highlighted that the CPCE has recorded an improvement for the academic year, noting that in 2015-2016, the statistics were 21 Distinctions, 410 Credit and 5 Passes.
That having been established, Rowe outlined the CPCE stands strong on its vision, while expressing confidence in this batch of graduates.
The Principal relayed that, “We, the administration and staff of the CPCE stands committed to our mandate; to prepare men and women from all regions of the country for formal entry into Guyana’s teaching profession, using both face to face and distant modalities, print based and computer assisted learning.
“We are confident that our graduates can provide high quality instructions to students in urban and rural classrooms of Guyana contributing to national development goal of having a competent citizenry,” Rowe went on to say.
Meanwhile, invited to deliver the feature address was the President himself, who dubbed CPCE’s graduation one of the most important national events.
On that note he underlined the significance of the occasion saying that it rewards the trainees, reviews the performance of college over the past year and most importantly replenishes the nation’s core of teachers.
In his remarks, Granger stated, “You teachers are the foundation of our public education system. Without you, we cannot achieve our aim of quality education, of producing students with the correct attitudes, with the knowledge and skills and values and standards, not only for your own purpose but for the public good.”
As such, the Head of State charged the 2017 graduating class to follow in the footsteps of the late Cyril Potter, after whom the College was named, saying, “Contribute to the country of you birth, contemplate a better future for you, for the children you teach and for the communities in which you work.”
Echoing similar sentiments was Ingrid Trotman, the Assistant Chief Education Officer.
While speaking on behalf of Education Minister Nicolette Henry, Trotman outlined the responsibility of this new batch of teachers in molding the nation towards a more successful future.
“You are at the forefront of the new wave of change in our classrooms all over the country because you are the creators of students. As teachers, you can inspire your students to feed their passion for learning. Your students will be our future leaders,” the Assistant CEO expressed.
She then thanked the graduates for choosing teaching as their profession and extended well wishes to the group as they embark on their new journey.
Emerging at the forefront of the 2017 CPCE graduates was Niroopa Manroop who copped the Best Graduating Student Title. Manroop walked away with a special Shield, a certificate, a gift voucher and a laptop computer and printer, all of which was presented to her by President David Granger.
The Cyril Potter College of Education operates through 19 campuses countrywide, with its main campus stationed in Turkeyen, Greater Georgetown.
This, the only formal teacher’s training institution in Guyana paves the way for teachers to embark on higher levels of education, particularly the Bachelor’s Degree in Education offered at the University of Guyana.
Of the 468 professionals now entering the teaching profession, having completed training through the CPCE, 88 per cent to that total are females while only 12 per cent of the graduates are males.
