Guyana, World Bank ink US$13.3M loan agreement to recapture UG Medical School accreditation

Jun 23, 2017 News

The Government of Guyana and the World Bank yesterday inked a US$13.3M loan agreement which is going to aid the University of Guyana (UG)’s School of Medicine in recapturing its full accreditation ability.

Ministry of Finance’s Director of Projects, Tarachand Balgobin.

The agreement has been dubbed the Guyana Education Sector Improvement Project.
The accreditation is one of the two aspects that will be addressed under this agreement.
UG’s Medical School lost its accreditation in April 2014 after a visit by the Caribbean Accreditation Authority for Education in Medicine (CAAEM) revealed that a number of recommendations to improve the institution were not adhered to.
This had resulted in medical degrees being issued by the institution not being recognised beyond Guyana’s borders.
Students were required to sit the Caribbean Association of Medical Councils (CAMC) examination before moving forward.
The school was served with provisional accreditation powers until 2015 by the CAAEM.
The Ministry of Finance’s Director of Projects, Tarachand Balgobin, said yesterday that the loan will facilitate the construction of a new Medical Health Sciences Building for UG as part of its reaccreditation drive.
“You would be aware that the University of Guyana has had some problems with accreditation of its medical programme. One of the critical aspects of re-establishing that accreditation is a new health facility. This loan is going (towards) the building (of) a brand new medical Health Sciences Building for the University of Guyana, and (will) support the curriculum for medicine so (that) the medical programme of the University of Guyana could come back and be accredited as it used to be in the past.” Balgobin explained.
The other aspect of the agreement signed yesterday, will also see the development of a new curriculum for schools.
“You know what is happening in the education system and this is one effort to design a new curriculum; training for teachers; capacity building; and institutional development within the Ministry of Education,” the Director said.
The inking of this agreement would come on the heels of a loan agreement that was signed previously for the Secondary Education Reform Programme (SERP) – which is currently being implemented.
Balgobin said also that the loan agreement signed yesterday will support the SERP and another previous loan – the University of Guyana Science and Technology Programme.
These programmes will work collectively in ensuring that the state has a “proper” education sector.

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