The Guyana government has signed an agreement with the International Development Association (IDA) to provide financing for a project that will boost the education sector by expanding access to quality education at the Secondary level as well as improve technical and vocational training (TVET).
Established in 1960, the IDA, part of the World Bank Group, aims to reduce poverty by providing zero to low-interest loans (called “credits”) and grants for programs that boost economic growth, reduce inequalities, and improve people’s living conditions.
Senior Finance Minister Dr. Ashni Singh told Parliament that the external loan agreement is in the amount of 31,900,000 Special Drawing Rights (SDR), an international reserve asset created by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to supplement the official reserves of its member countries. (One SDT=US$0.578 cents).
Singh told Parliament, which is being boycotted by the opposition, that the project provides for teacher training in on the new curriculum for Grades 7 to 9 including coaching and mentoring programs, the development of and implementation of an instructional leadership and managerial program for principals and provision of technical support.
It will also be used for the financing of learning materials and purchase of textbooks for Grades 7 to 11 in line with the renewed curriculum and with Caribbean Examination Council (CXC) requirements as well as the implementation of targeted interventions to address capacity and demand-driven challenges to support student retention and access including the establishment of an early warning system (EWS) to combat dropout at the secondary level, provision of student counseling and guidance and re-enrollment and information campaigns encouraging the return of students who have left the education system and promoting retention and
In addition, the project will finance a study of the impact of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic on learning and schooling losses, and to assess the impact of education interventions to recover losses and to further inform targeted interventions.
Singh said the government has been devising ways it can address the problem of learning loss as a result of the lengthy closure of school due to the COVID-19 pandemic which began in early 2020.
He said in September, President Irfaan Ali, while chairing the first leaders’ roundtable on transforming education worldwide, recommitted to making tertiary education free in Guyana by 2025.
Singh said it was also noted there was a significant dropout rate at the secondary school level where several students who registered for the CXC exams did not turn up to write their exams.
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