– training 1,000 teachers, equipping them with technological devices
ENHANCED virtual education is expected soon, as the Ministry of Education has convened training for 1,000 teachers and procured over 1,000 devices to support this effort.
The initiative, costing $ 174M, is being implemented through a collaborative effort among the ministry, the Global Partnership for Education (GPE), and the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF). The launch of this latest project was streamed live from the Ministry of Education’s Facebook page, on Tuesday.
Of the 1,022 devices purchased by the ministry, 1,000 will go to Grade Seven teachers for the benefit of better engagement with their students, and the remaining 22 are expected to be given to education officials so they can monitor the project . Sixty of those teachers will be ‘master’ instructors who, in turn, will teach the rest.
Tablet Academy International’s services in the UK have been secured through an open bidding process, according to Education Minister Priya Manickchand, and procurement of laptops for teachers has also been done in the same process.
The ‘Tablet Academy’, an internationally recognized independent company offering consultancy, teacher training and student engagement to the education sector, will provide teacher training locally. According to the company’s Chairman and Co-Founder, Steve Molyneux, who attended yesterday’s launch, the company trains over 36,000 teachers each year, supports over 1,500 schools and provides STEM enrichment workshops for learners , all delivered remotely.
In commenting, Manickchand noted that improving Information and Communication Technology (ICT) is becoming one of the government’s top priorities once she takes office and with the onset of the coronavirus pandemic. “COVID-19 showed us in Guyana that using technology in the classroom to provide education is a growing trend that will become important; it showed us how ready we were to meet anything other than the traditional approach to education, ”he said.
He further added: “No matter how much had been invested, the fact that we were not prepared for the kind of school where we would have to provide education with most of our children and teachers outside to the classroom in their living rooms; COVID-19 showed us how ready we were. ”
Since then the ministry has looked at every possible way of providing education in a seamless way to the nation’s student population of 170,000, and has taken huge strides in reshaping the learning channel, using the radio, and writing , print and distribute worksheets in record time.
“The writing process usually takes months, sometimes years and we did it in a few weeks,” he reasoned.
She was keen to point out that not only any teacher will be able to receive the devices, but only those who meet a strict criterion in place. He said that the introduction of technology will not end when COVID-19 is finished, but will be fully embedded in the system so that the education sector can be more effective at all levels.
Director of the National Center for the Development of Educational Resources (NCERD), Quenita Walrond, also attended the launch, along with Deputy Chief Education Officer, Volika Jaikishun. “
We are taking a further step towards a holistic approach to technological innovation, utilities and support in the sector. Using the technology, teachers can collaborate with each other, their students, their departments and even the central ministry at just a few clicks, ”Walrond said of the project, adding:“ Today marks a departure from the only reliance on moving and collecting paper. for knowledge building and knowledge sharing. ”Walrond proposed that this online platform will use Microsoft Office 365 for education and that this initiative is part of the COVID-19 Accelerated Funding Project (AFP), which seeks to support continuity of learning for children throughout Guyana.
“AFP COVID across its components seeks to provide the hardware, infrastructure, and support education by building capacity that will enable educators to deliver to and for their students quality educational inputs and experiences that n fit with modern modes of delivery and the ability to communicate better with students, ”he said.
He said this project seeks to allow for the provision of an integrated online platform for teachers, primarily for curriculum delivery, but with many other capabilities and applications.