Georgetown: Although the ideal delivery of primary education should allow for 15 students per teacher, this does not obtain in Guyana’s public education system. However, Assistant Chief Education Officer (Primary), Marcel Hudson, has assured that research has shown that one teacher to 35 students is a reasonable ratio in this country.
At the moment the country has about 438 primary schools that cater to between 85,000 and 90,000 pupils. According to Hudson, “the teacher/student ratio is always a work in progress. We wish we could actually do like some other societies where we can have one teacher to about 15 children, but what we have is quite reasonable.”
Primary education is very important as according to Hudson it is where the educational foundation is formed. “It is like a building and if you are going to build a structure and the foundation is not right, regardless of what you put upon it will collapse…So it is important, as a matter of fact it is compulsory that all of our children have access to primary education because of the foundational nature of this level of education.”
Part of nurturing this foundational level in an attempt to ensure that students do well is the need for collaboration with parents. According to Hudson a number of researches done the world over have shown that where parents are integrally involved in their children’s education that children’s performance tend to improve. “The literature is out there in every respect. It is overwhelming and therefore it has been one of our campaigns at the Parent/Teacher Associations’ meetings and seminars…it is important to show them the importance of their input in their children’s education if they are to perform and do well in society.”
In commenting on the importance of the school feeding and uniform programmes to which some $1 billion have been allocated, Hudson extended laudable remarks. He insisted that “We can’t run away from the fact that if children are not properly fed or are malnourish they cannot perform. I think the school feeding would have contributed to our children’s performance.”
In terms of the uniform system which he described as very important “there are lots of our parents who might not be financially affluent and they in particular have been able to benefit from these programmes…I have seen these programmes play a major role particularly in areas where children have a habit of not coming to school,” Hudson noted even as he pointed out that “since the programme had started and I say this without reservation that I have seen the numbers increased because the fact that children are able to get something to eat it will help them and motivate them to come to school.”
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