Region Six students and early school leavers are benefiting from the country-wide $115M literacy programme recently launched at UG’s Tain Campus.
The education ministry is conducting the programme which targets grades three and four students as well as school drop-outs and adults. Regional Literacy Coordinator, Shameena Haniff, told Stabroek News that the idea for the programme stemmed from poor results at the National Grade Assessments. She said the results proved that the students “could barely read and we also realized that the literacy level for the school drop-outs and adults is really low.” Haniff said the ministry “took the initiative to set up a National Steering Committee earlier this year to improve children’s reading.” She said too immediately after the launching a one-week training session for 30 literacy educators was held.
The literacy sessions cover from Lochaber, East Bank Berbice to Skeldon. The sessions for the students are held for 90 minutes after school hours while the sessions for the adults and early school leavers are held for two hours on the weekends.
Haniff is calling on parents, NGOs and the media to contribute to making the programme a success. She is also urging parents to ensure that their children make full use of the programme.
