Dear Editor,
Kindly permit me a space in your column to express my opinion on a rapid expansion of tertiary education in Guyana through possible four two-year diploma granting community colleges. With the rapid projected (2022 Budget) expansion in the country, tertiary level education is a necessary requisite to keep pace with sustainable development in other sectors. These colleges, based on demographic considerations, could be in Essequibo Coast, Linden, and Lethem and between West Coast Berbice and East Coast Demerara. An ideal way of decentralizing higher level education.
There are a number of distinct benefits in Community College Education: most students can live at home, or at work-place, while attending college; per capita, two-year community college education is much cheaper, and serve as in-service up-grading for nurses, police, teachers and govt. parastatals. The Government may want to seriously consider recruiting mature students on the principle of Prior Learning Assessment (PLA). There are far too many (prospective) students, who for a myriad of reasons have been forced to quit school. Based on my own research in rural Guyana there are scores of prospective – especially female – students lingering with few job opportunities who are “College Material”.
At first, these colleges can be located within Secondary and Primary Schools—evenings and week-ends. Instructors, with second degrees, from the community can be recruited. Experience had shown that distance and on-line learning, though very attractive, may not provide the best results for many of these students. There must be a communicative link between these Colleges (Managed by a Board) and the University of Guyana where introductory courses can be culled into the colleges, making it easy for graduate students requiring transfer into a degree program at UG. With a Community College Program in place, University of Guyana can focus more on Post Graduate programs and other professional fields.
Sincerely,
Andra Thakur
