Latest update December 8th, 2024 1:13 AM
Rural schools are left out of training programmes – Swami Aksharananda
The rural students and teachers are at a great disadvantage when compared to what goes on in the city schools and the many training programmes held by the Ministry of Education.
According to Principal of the Saraswati Vidya Niketan School in Cornelia Ida, West Coast Demerara, Swami Aksharananda, very often when special training programmes are held by the Education Ministry, the students and teachers from rural schools are excluded.
Swami Aksharananda
This, he noted, is a very disturbing trend that the Ministry needs to immediately address.
“Many programmes are held that involve students and teachers from the schools of Georgetown…special training programmes that would happen occasionally and it is almost the teachers and students from the immediate environs who would benefit from those programmes,” Swami Aksharananda said during the school’s graduation ceremony on Sunday.
He explained that this very issue was raised with the Education Minister, Shaik Baksh, who had shared the same view that the teachers and students from the rural areas should indeed benefit from these training programmes.
According to the Swami, these are some of the sticking problems that are still lurking in the education system.
“As a private school we also suffer a great deal because we don’t know what the policy is but we’re often excluded from many, many training programmes.”
He expressed his opinion that the school is also in the business of delivering education and to not be invited to special training programmes is quite disturbing.
“So I don’t know what government’s official attitude towards private schools is and whether private schools themselves are entitled to such training.”
According to the Swami, at one time it was possible for a teacher from a private school to attend the government’s teachers training college but one had to pay a certain amount of money if they are from a private school.
“All I am saying is whether you are from a private or public school, teachers are involved in delivering education and we should all benefit from the same kind of training, so that it can be passed on to our students.”
Meanwhile, the Swami also noted that the education system has still not come to terms with the fact that Guyana is a nation of very diverse people.
He explained that the education system is still unable to recognise the cultural diversities, since it is much easier to find an Indian name mentioned in a textbook coming from the United States or United Kingdom rather than from text books coming from the Caribbean.
“Something is seriously wrong, not only at the level of Guyana, but at the Caribbean level.
Those who are in charge of the Caribbean education seem to have forgotten that there is a large percentage of Indians and a cultural diversity in Trinidad and Guyana.”
He noted the fact remains that cultural diversity is not adequately represented in the education system.
In this regard, he lauded his school’s performance at this year’s CSEC results.
He commended the teachers whom he noted have been outstanding in their commitment to the students.
This year, the school has far exceeded the national average in Mathematics and English, as both subjects are way above 80 per cent at a time when the national average for Mathematics in Guyana still hovers around 30 per cent.
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