Georgetown: At the final meeting of the Regional Education Officers (REdOs) on Monday, Minister of Education, Dr. Nicolette Henry urged the Education Officers that they should work towards maintaining transparency and efficiency as they execute their various work plans.
Minister Henry reminded the Officers that the Ministry of Education has received a budgetary allocation that is significantly higher than what was given to the other sectors. As such, she told them, “To whom much is given, much is required. That allocation is a huge responsibility and therefore every single penny must count. I want it to count with transparency and efficiency. When we spend money we have to ensure that we are getting value for money.”
The Education Minister encouraged the Officers to work along with their work plans for the new year and ensure that they prioritise activities according to what is most needed and to have them completed according to decided timelines. Some of the important activities highlighted were provisions for examinations and buildings maintenance schedules.
She advised the REdOs that schools should be looked at individually to ensure they meet at least the minimum standards. Minister Henry congratulated and thanked the Regional Education Officers on the work that they would have done in 2018.
Despite the successes, moving ahead, Minister Henry impressed upon the Officers that there is still a lot more work to be done in the education sector. She said that although there have been improvements in the performance at examinations, the Ministry of Education is not only concerned with examinations and work should not be minimized to be about examination results.
She said, “We have to ensure that what is happening in the classroom is really preparing the student for life outside of the classroom. And so the school health unit, the school support, the welfare department, NCERD, Allied Arts and so forth are very important to what we do here in education.”
According to Deputy Chief Education Officer (Admin), Ms. Ingrid Trotman, over the past year, there have been a number of successes, one such being the opening of the Kato Secondary School in September.
Also touching on the subject of spending to ensure the work of the Ministry is done, Ms. Trotman encouraged the REdOs to adhere to the activities on their work plans and to execute them expeditiously so that every dollar can be accounted for.
Ms. Trotman thanked the REdOs for all their contributions that they have made during 2018. She said that despite setbacks, the work of the Ministry of Education was not halted, which she described as commendable.
The REdO’s meeting is a forum that is held frequently that brings the senior officers from all the Education Districts across Guyana to share ideas and thoughts about the work of the Ministry that is being executed in the districts and to find ways of addressing existing gaps.
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