Latest update April 19th, 2024 12:59 AM
May 13, 2013 News
– age requirement changed to 3 years 3 months
Minister of Education Priya Manickchand on Friday announced her Ministry’s intention to change the age requirement for entrance to Nursery School which can see up to 3,000 extra students enrolling next year.
With effect from September 2014, children can enter the formal education system at three years three months, six months earlier than previously obtained. Although this level of education is not mandatory, most children in Guyana begin their academic education at this level.
At present, a child can only enter a public nursery school at age three years if that child will be at least three years, nine months by December of the year he or she begins. For all the children who are born after March 31, they must wait until September in the year following to enter nursery school.
Minister Manickchand has observed that the readiness of children to enter the system at an earlier age has been demonstrated over time by the children themselves who are far more advanced than their peers of yesteryear. The hurdle created by the current cut off age has been “causing great hardship to parents and our young learners,” she stated.
A child would have had to be three years old by June 30 of the year he or she will enter nursery school. This is a three-month extension from the original March 30 requirement. The child would then be three years three months at the time of entering school in September and 3 years 6 months by the end of the year.
However, before the new age requirement is instituted, the Education Ministry has to make preparations, Minister Manickchand explained. The new age requirement can see a total of 1,200 new additional nursery students each month, which calculates to about 3,000 new students between March to June each year.
The Education Minister pointed out that since this may not be an even spread around the country, “some places will have to be buttressed more than others.”
“Some preparation would be needed for the Ministry to implement this age change. These include, determining the furniture needs, and acquiring more books, manipulative toys and teachers. Placement officers and children would have to be prepared for this,” she further stated.
In Guyana, although nursery education is noncompulsory, the coverage has always been consistently high and continues to increase. Eighty-five percent of the relevant age group is attending nursery school, the highest percentage in the Commonwealth Caribbean.
Nursery education in Guyana is provided by the government as well as private entities.
The two-year programme at the nursery level is designed to provide young children with a learning environment that will facilitate their physical, social, emotional, and intellectual development, as well as the development of basic skills and desirable attitudes to learning.
Meanwhile, the Education Minister revealed that the draft Education Bill is almost complete and shall be ready for laying in the National Assembly before the recess. The Bill includes a provision to make nursery education compulsory.
She further pointed out that additional regulations under the Act have also been drafted “and hopefully, would be ready to be laid over at the same time that the Act is being laid in the National Assembly.” (GINA)
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