Major revamp for UG –Roopnaraine plugs greater attention to science

guyana chronicle

November 4, 2015

By Tajeram Mohabir

With science and technology being the focus of development in the 21st century, the University of Guyana (UG) which to a large extent is still stuck in the social sciences, is set to veer in a more modern direction.“My own sense is the days when social sciences had the kind of clout it once had, I think those days are past and the new day calls for a heavier concentration on science and technology,” Education Minister Dr Rupert Roopnaraine told the Guyana Chronicle. But he said for this to happen, a reform in the secondary education system is needed with sharper focus on the Science, Technology, Engineer and Mathematics (STEM) subjects. In 2015, fewer than half of those who wrote English A and Mathematics at the Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate (CSEC) examinations secured passes. The Ministry of Education had described as ‘unsatisfactory’ the performance of students in the core science subjects of Physics and Chemistry. President David Granger lamented the poor performance in these two subjects at the schools’ national awards ceremony held recently at the National Cultural Centre (NCC). “This performance is unacceptable in the knowledge-based world in which we live. Guyana simply cannot continue along this trajectory if it is to compete with our sisters in the Caribbean,” Mr Granger said. Dr Roopnaraine pointed out that the change is not only required at the secondary school level, but also at the University of Guyana. Early grade levels Ideally, he said, the interest in science and technology has to be cultivated at the early grade levels, and the university has to be a place where young scholars can advance their appetite in these areas. To his credit, the Ministry of Education has begun the push for greater attention to be placed on the STEM subjects. Aside from a focus on science at technology, Dr Roopnaraine also stressed that more is needed from Guyana’s premier tertiary learning institution in the area of research. “The university has to be a place where they are not only producing graduates but you are releasing knowledge through research and I think that the university has fallen behind in this area. The university really has to be a place where you are producing what the country needs in relations to science and technology. I need the university to be a place where when I want something done at the Ministry of Education, I don’t want to be importing some specialist; I should turn to the University of Guyana, the institution which should be providing all of the expertise that I need. This is where we have to go, I don’t think that this will be achieved by the waving of a magic wand, what we are talking about here is a process and I think that the process is underway at the university, but it needs to be accelerated,” he said. On assuming office, Dr Roopnaraine said the Administration would increase funding for UG at it was more or less on life support then. Generate revenues But he noted the Administration also wants to see the university generate revenues to fund it operations and steps are being taken in this regard. Dr Roopnaraine, a world-class professor of comparative literature also noted that he will be happy when the University of Guyana will be in a position where it would not have to depend on the government for a subvention. He had told this publication that Guyana’s leading tertiary education provider is expected to be transformed into a world-class institution of learning, geared to meet the needs of the country and to serve as a national think tank. “We should have the university as a think tank, we should have the quality of persons at the university who can provide the kind of intellectual leadership in society, the scientific reach in society that we need. We have the capacity to generate what we call a think tank, providing the intellectual power to help the government and society. That’s not beyond us; it is what we have to aim at,” he had told this publication in a previous interview. Under his watch, Dr Roopnaraine said the infrastructure of UG will be upgraded, greater attention will be paid to quality of teaching, salaries for lecturers, the relevance of syllabuses, among others, to ensure that programmes are aligned to address priority areas of the country.