Even though schools here have fully reopened after being closed for two years due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the British government is “very” keen on helping to ensure students recover from learning loss.
Director of the Education, Gender and Equality Directorate (EdGE), at the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO), Alicia Herbert, recently concluded a two-day visit to Guyana.
She told members of the media during an interview on Wednesday afternoon that she met with Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Education Alfred King and other officials within the sector to discuss efforts being made to ensure children have returned to school and are recovering from learning loss.
“…And when they get them back in the classroom how do you make up for the learning losses over the course of the last two years?” Herbert asked.
She said this is an issue the British Government is “very” focused on at the moment, particularly as it relates to girls, marginalised and poor children.
“The big how is how do you get them back to learning so that they can earn an income in the future,” Herbert said.
The focus of Herbert’s visit was to be updated on key social issues and determine where the UK can offer their support to implement policies, strategies and best practices.
Public school began to full reopen in April of this years after two years of closure.
Prior to this, the Ministry of Education had launched ‘Operation Recovery’ to ensure pupils who have dropped out of school as a result of the pandemic returned to the school system.
In a release, the Ministry had said that the initiative would see the involvement of Education Officers from the Central Ministry and within the Education Districts along with regional officials and community activists fanning out into communities to locate these pupils.
It said the Ministry would be assessing how it could assist the students with returning to school.
The release noted that scientific data gathered from studies done in countries around the world showed that the long school closures resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic will lead to an increased rate of school dropouts and tremendous learning loss, unless countries take urgent, practical measures to mitigate against it.
The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), the Ministry had said, predicted that unless practical measures are taken urgently this generation could lose more than 17 trillion dollars in earnings in their lifetime, have their academic growth stunted and their mental health severely affected.
Some measures that the ministry believed will mitigate against the predicted loss of students includes teaching and learning from a consolidated curriculum, the provision of textbooks, re-training of teachers and the use of technology in the classroom.
