The Guyana Improving Teacher Education Project (GITEP), launched on Tuesday at the Cyril Potter College of Education (CPCE) Convention Centre at Turkeyen, East Coast Demerara, is expected to improve learning.
According to Project co-ordinator Dr Tota Mangar, its main objective is to advance the quality and delivery of education to and by teachers, so as to improve the learning achievements of Guyana’s schoolchildren.
This objective, he said, is consistent with the 2008-2013 Education Strategic Plan, which aims to raise the standard of living in Guyana through improving education.
GITEP, which is supported by a World Bank credit facility and other financiers, such as the Government of Guyana, the Commonwealth of Learning and other local sources, costs US$5.12 million, of which US$4.2 million is funded by the World Bank.
The expected outcome of this initiative is to have teacher educators and student teachers perform more effectively, to have more efficient provision of teacher education, bringing reduced time and more focused content/supervision, and better use of resources and improved management of teacher education programmes.
Mangar also spoke of the beneficiaries of the project, whom he said would be the teacher educators and administrators at CPCE, and the University of Guyana School of Education and Humanities, student teachers, teachers, and schoolchildren.
Among the main indicators, Mangar said, will be a reduction in time to complete a Bachelor’s Degree in Education (B.Ed.), and an Associate Degree in. Also, 80% of teacher educators would fulfil the minimum qualifications of their updated terms of reference in alignment with the delivery of the new ADE and B.Ed. programmes.
Another main indicator would be an increase of trained teachers at the primary level by seven percentage points. Mangar noted that the number of males among direct project beneficiaries, teacher educators and student teachers, will also increase from 16% to 20%.
The final aspects of the background to the project that Mangar touched on were the components and costs of the initiative.
The three components – Improving the Quality and Efficiency of Teacher Education Delivery; Building Human Resources and Capacity for more Effective Teaching; and Learning and Communications Project Management and Monitoring and Evaluation – cost US$2.65 million, US$1.93 million and US$0.54 million, respectively.
Present at the event was Education Minister Shaik Baksh, who thought it was fitting to host the formal launch so the entire country would become aware of the important development in the education sector of Guyana. He noted that the quality of education in Guyana has been under tremendous scrutiny over the last two years and urged that debates on education continue with changes detected along the way.
“In the area of teachers, education and training,” he said, “we want to see the transformation of Guyana through this effort.”
Minister of Finance Dr. Ashni Singh was also present at the project’s launching and he recalled that years ago in the discussion with the World Bank he had made his priorities clear. At the time, he had said: “I would much prefer for us not to try to do everything under the sun but instead for us to go to the absolute highest priority on the government’s agenda. I remember saying at the time that it would be better if we identify one or two areas where we can really make an impact and we eventually negotiated and agreed to two priorities. One was education, with a specific emphasis on quality and the second was environment, with a specific emphasis on climate change.” This formed the basis for the GITEP initiative, he added.
Singh also said that despite the billions the government has invested in the education sector, the outcome really lies in the hands of the teachers. “The future of our young people, the future of the next generation of Guyanese, literally lies in your hands,” he said, directing his remarks to the CPCE students, Guyana’s trainee teachers.
