Education Ministry conducting value-for-money audits--Roopnarine

Guyana Chronicle June 5, 2015

EDUCATION Minister Dr Rupert Roopnaraine has said that audits are being conducted across the ministry to ensure there is value for taxpayers’ monies spent on programmes implemented.Speaking with the Guyana Chronicle, he said all the programmes of the ministry must be evidence-based, and expenditures made must have been well spent. “We have to retrieve what has been misspent. The ministry, in a bid to avoid misspending money, has to ensure that all our procurement practices are absolutely open, transparent and aboveboard,” he said. Dr Roopnaraine identified procurement as a source of much of the dislocations, and noted that shortcomings in this regard will be corrected. Careful attention, he said, will be placed on the honesty of suppliers and their ability to deliver quality service. The minister was quick to clarify that he is not saying that efforts have not been made to ensure value for money, but noted that these will be strengthened to eliminate wastage. A lot of work has to be done in the 11 education districts, as there are many reports of non-functioning toilets and shortage of furniture. “We want to ensure that the environment [in] which learning takes place is not wanting in terms of basic facilities and amenities, and is conducive to learning. If we can get that right, it would be a good start,” the minister said. QUALITY CITIZENS The Ministry of Education, he said, is focused on creating the kind of citizens who will take Guyana forward in the 21st century. They must be equipped with the skills and competence, Dr Roopnaraine said that will make them second to none and equal to any in the world. Acknowledging that there is a lot of work to be done, the minister said strong focus will be placed on early childhood education to build a solid foundation in students to ensure their smooth transition into the school system. “Nothing essential for the development of the child must escape our attention,” he said, pointing out that an assessment will be done on the current curriculum and textbooks used in the school system. The ministry will also be forging an active partnership with teachers with the support of the Guyana Teachers’ Union, since they are the ones who have to improve the outcomes of learners. A former university professor, Dr. Roopnaraine also said all aspects of teacher training will be reviewed and scrutinised, and areas that need to be corrected will be corrected and those that need refining will be refined. The end result, he said, is to ensure that teachers who leave the teachers training college are fully capable and competent to positively impact the school system. Recently, Research and Policy Fellow at Stanford University, Dr. Travis Bristol, who has worked in Guyana through the World Bank, said improvement in students’ performance hinges on sound management and the quality of teachers in the school system. “If you raise the standard of those entering the Cyril Potter College of Education you begin to raise the quality of those who leave,” he told this publication in an interview on Facebook.