| – Education MinisterThe full support of teachers is imperative ahead of the implementation of any policy in the school system. This view was expressed by Minister of Education, Dr Rupert Roopnaraine, when asked about a move by former Minister of Education, Priya Manickchand,http://www.theworldsoccersshop.com/Argentina-Lionel-Messi-Jersey.html, to revise the nursery entry age policy.The Ministry had introduced the revised entry age for nursery children in September of last year. Previously a child had to be three years old by March 31 in order to enter Nursery School in September of the same year. With the revised undertaking by the Ministry, children were eligible to enter the nursery level in September even if they would have turned three in June.There were reports that some teachers were not pleased with the move, as this meant more work for them, in terms of catering to the needs of the young children in their care. While the Guyana Teachers’ Union had embraced the move, there were complaints that there was not enough consultation ahead of the implementation of the revised policy.But this is not likely to happen under the tenure of Dr Roopnaraine. He insisted during an interview with this publication recently that “in any policy direction, we have to ensure that we engage the teachers, we have to engage their union and ensure that when we establish a policy it has the full support of the teachers.”“If there are teachers who are unhappy with particular policy directions then we have to resolve it. We can’t have policies that teachers have difficulties with – either because they are not committed to it or they really don’t believe are sensible. I think we have to win the teachers over to any policy we intend to implement in the Ministry.”And it is the firm belief of the Minister that there are competent enough people at the Ministry who will aid this process forward.“I told them that with all the accumulated wisdom and experience in the room I was quite sure that the enormous challenges faced by the Ministry will be faced head-on,” said the Minister as he expressed optimism about successfully implementing needful policies.Manickchand, who had on numerous occasions acknowledged the competence of the Ministry’s staffers during her tenure, had earlier this year offered an update on the nursery entry programme pointing out that “we could have had a major problem on our hands if this was really going to hamper the learning environment for all the children in the classroom.”But according to her, the Ministry was able to minimise a series of potential problems by inviting about 90 per cent of the entrants’ parents to meetings,Deportivas Asics Mujer Baratas, ahead of the start of the school year (July/August 2014 holiday),Adidas NHL Jerseys China, that sought to solicit their (parents’) support to prepare their children for school. And the end result was a success story, according to Manickchand.“Frankly we haven’t had any major complaints. I haven’t heard of any. But nursery-age children are always edgy when they get into schools. First they will bawl the school down for maybe the first week,Cheap Jerseys Online, and they bawl a little bit less for the first month, and by the end of the first term they settle in,Wholesale NFL Jerseys,” she added.Another known issue that children face, Manickchand had highlighted was the limited independence, whereby some children were unable to use the toilets or were unable to eat by themselves.But according to Dr Roopnaraine,Cheap Jerseys From China, once proven to be workable and accepted by all stakeholders, he will be willing to embrace and continue any policy implemented by his predecessor. |
