For the first time in over fifteen years, Region Seven, Cuyuni-Mazaruni will be reintroducing the Cyril Potter College of Education’s Distance Education training programme. The course will see persons being trained as Nursery and Primary school teachers.

The move comes after calls from residents to have persons residing in the Region trained and placed in schools; particularly since it has been difficult to attract trained teachers from the coast.

Regional Education Officer of Region Seven, Akbar Chindu said for over two years he has been advocating to have the programme reinstituted in the Region.

“We had it before but that was over 15 years ago. I have been trying to get the programme on stream and recently we got positive replies in that the trained teacher’s certificate programme will commence in the region. The modules will be here shortly… they informed us that we will have two branches here, we will have one in central Bartica which will caters for teachers from lower and middle Mazaruni and in the upper Mazaruni, we will have a branch at Kamarang.”

According to Chindu, the teachers will meet twice a month to be tutored by trained graduates. While most of the exercises are expected to be self-taught, the trainees will be given assignments and other tasks to be carried out within a specified time; similar to what is done at CPCE.

The Regional Education Officer stated that “tutorial sessions for the first semester are expected to begin from April 11-13. In Bartica we are hoping to have that training at the Learning Resource Centre and at Kamarang it is going to be at the Education office. For the first semester, it is just four areas they will cover – English proficiency one, teaching across the curriculum, teaching methods and introduction to curriculum.”

Trainee teachers will wear the CPCE uniform while attending classes and during school hours as is done on the coast.

The move signals a major step in the effort to alleviate the of lack of trained teachers in hinterland regions and other far-flung areas. It also demonstrates the government’s efforts to ensure children countrywide receive equal access to quality education.

In the 2018 National Budget, which was passed last December in the National Assembly, $41.9B was allocated to the education sector. Region seven accounted for $1.4B of that amount.

Source: DPI