For the first time in history, the Education Ministry will be supplying every textbook needed for all primary school children in the public sector – a process that will commence soon.
Education Minister Priya Manickchand announced on Friday that the rollout will commence within the near future, offering every primary school student the relevant resource materials. In the past, parents were tasked with purchasing these books – a cumbersome burden on those who could not afford due to financial limitations.
“In a very short time, all the primary school children of this country will receive every single textbook they need to use in this country and that would be the first time, our country is giving to every single child, all the textbooks they need at the primary level,” the Minister revealed.
Minister Manickchand reminded that after taking office in the midst of the pandemic, the Education Ministry had ensured that every Grade Six child was covered with textbooks and other material. This was executed at a time when no oil resources were used.
“When we were not an oil-producing country, we considered the children of the country and their ability to read; and what that would mean for them individually, in their families, in the communities and for us as a country. We found ways to write the book, as well as print the book and give it to each child…Last year, without oil money, we found money to buy for every single primary school Grade Six child, all the textbooks they need; a collection of about 17 and books that had only been available to children who had means. We furnished all our children with those books and that will continue,” she explained.
Guyana’s mid-year report for 2021 would have shown that $980.5 million was spent by the Education Ministry to acquire worksheets and textbooks for children in the public school system. Some 165,958 textbooks were procured and distributed to over 13,000 Grade Six students.
After entering office in August 2020, it was found that Guyana had not procured textbooks in over three years which resulted in a “big deficit”, according to the Education Minister. In light of this, the Ministry had moved to procure all textbooks needed at the primary level.
After last year’s National Grade Six Examination, Manickchand had called for textbooks to be returned, in order to provide these opportunities for the new batch. The Education Ministry had implemented a policy whereby the National Grade Six Assessment results are withheld until the books are returned.
“For the public school children, it made all the difference in the world. I came into the Ministry and found zero textbooks. I had none to give out and textbooks hadn’t been bought for four years so there was a serious deficit. If I don’t collect this back, by next year we’re back in that status where I can’t give everybody because I don’t have enough to give everybody,” she was quoted as saying.
