Three hundred and seventy-seven teachers graduated from the Cyril Potter College of Education (CPCE) on Friday and heard President David Granger say that Guyana is on the verge of a massive transformative process which will see an ‘education nation’, a ‘green’, ‘digital’ and petroleum producing state.
“Guyana will be unrecognizable twenty years from now. A ‘new nation’ will emerge within the next two decades,” the President said, according to a release from the Ministry of the Presidency. He was delivering his feature address at the 85th graduation exercise of the CPCE at the National Cultural Centre on Friday.
“Teachers will be expected to become the engine to drive the ‘education nation’. They will propel economic transformation. They will nurture present and future generations and equip them with the skills needed for transformational change. Teachers are the sinews of the country’s education system,” the caretaker President said.
Granger said science education is at the centre of the transformative changes which have begun to take place.
“Science education is essential to the success of economic transformation. It is necessary to equip our students with the skills needed to be integrated into the evolving workforce,” the President said, while declaring that Government intends to establish a Department of Science and Technology to promote science education.
With teacher training improving, Granger said it is equally important that graduates of the College appreciate Guyana’s cultural complexities.
“Education and culture are connected, inextricably…Education is a means of preserving and propagating the elements of culture consisting of its material aspects – artefacts, dress, food and its non-material aspects such as its beliefs, language and values. It is a medium through which people who live in multicultural settings could learn to appreciate and respect cultural diversity,” the President said, according to the release.
Granger said that the public education system respects cultural diversity and should make provision for respecting the country’s varied cultural practices.
“Teaching in Yakusari in Berbice cannot be the same as teaching in Yupukari in the Rupununi. Learners are not all the same yet, curricula tend to be the same, textbooks tend to be the same and examinations tend to be the same,” he stated.
CPCE’s Principal, Viola Rowe spoke of the College’s successes. She said teacher education and training in hinterland and riverine areas was expanded.
CPCE set up a new Centre in Anna Regina with the aim to ensure adequate education and training hubs in the Pomeroon -Supenaam. This, she said, aimed at guaranteeing a steady supply of trained teachers to schools, primarily in the riverine areas of that Region.
