Almost 10,000 computers coming from China will be distributed to teachers, educators and education officials under a One Laptop Per Teacher (OLPT) programme as government moves to improve the education system to ensure a quality education.
“In addition to ensuring equitable and inclusive access to education in Guyana, we need to consider what quality of education is being provided and how we are assessing quality,” Minister of Finance Winston Jordan told the National Assembly in his Budget 2015 presentation on Monday.
He said that the abysmal results for Mathematics and English in Guyana where more than half of the students are unable to establish that they have general proficiency in these two foundational subjects cannot be ignored.
“We will undertake a detailed and objective study of the weak links in our education system to determine at which points we are failing our children as they progress through school, and use the results to craft appropriate policy responses. To this end, we will ensure that our teachers are equipped with the appropriate technological resources to deliver the intended curricula at all levels,” Jordan said.
He recalled that government has already taken a decision that most of the nearly 10,000 computers that are coming from China will be distributed to teachers, educators and education officials, under the OLPT programme, which he said was “a departure from the discredited and corrupted” One Laptop Per Family (OLPF) programme of the past regime.
“We will also ensure that existing rules and guidelines are enforced to ensure greater accountability in the system for all those who are entrusted with delivering a quality education. We are actively considering removing the points allocated for Grades 2 and 4 assessments so that the exercises are used to provide a diagnostic of each child’s individual performance and guide teaching plans,” the Minister said.
