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By Tiffanne RamphalIn an invited response to an article which appeared in yesterday’s (August 19) edition of this newspaper, titled ‘Opposition members blast Education Ministry for ‘poor’ CSEC results’,Patrik Berglund Jersey, the Minister of Education, Priya Manickchand fired back at the critics.While the comments made were generally based on the incapacity of the Education Ministry to improve the overall performance of students in Guyana, the Minister said that she is “pleased that people are speaking on the single,Cheap Texas A&M Jerseys, most important issue in the country- the education of the nation’s children.”Education Minister Priya ManickchandShe is, however, grossly disappointed in the comments made by members of the opposition, which were contrary to congratulating the students along with their parents and teachers for performing “so phenomenally well” at the Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate (CSEC) exams.“These are Guyanese people doing so well. The opposition cannot claim to love Guyana, but fail to celebrate when Guyanese do well. It is almost as though they wait with bated breath so that they can see these Guyanese kids fail,Michal Rozsival Jersey, only so they can say that the Government has done badly,” she said.Responding to a comment in the article, which asserted that “Mathematics has recorded the lowest pass rate this year”, the Minister stressed this is not true.She pointed to statistics of the Mathematics pass rates over the past 13 years in particular, which clearly show the progressive climb that the rates have taken since the People’s Progressive Party/ Civic (PPP/C)’s assent office in 1992. (See table below)Minister Manickchand said that the improvement in the subject areas have been notable “since the PPP started paying attention to education”, compared to results brought in under the previous administration.She added, however, that the excellent performance of some is no consolation to her, and that reality must be faced as the entire Caribbean region has been performing poorly in Mathematics.She pointed to the CSEC 2013 report of the Caribbean Examinations Council (CXC) website which stated that, “while there was a slight improvement on Mathematics over the last year, performance remained below average; with 35 per cent of entries achieving acceptable grades, compared with the 33 per cent last year.”The report continued by stating that, according to a report by the Subject Awards Committee, “the work produced by the majority of candidates on Paper 2 was unsatisfactory. The committee noted that more than 13,000 candidates were unable to measure and state the length of a given line and determine the measure of an angle on one question.”The Minister said that while the results suggest that students’ performance in the various subject areas are “not great”, under the current administration, the results are better than what they used to be.To the claim that there is a noticeable lack of trained teachers, the Minister responded by saying that while more Mathematics and English teachers are definitely needed,Nolan Ryan Mets Jersey, “our country can boast having 70% of trained teachers, whereas before, when the PPP/C assumed office, we had a complement of 30% trained teachers.“We have had results that we never used to speak of as a country, compared to the results we have now,” the Minister pointed out. She added that critics should keep in mind that further improvement would, unfortunately, take time, given all that is needed to get these improvements.To the apparent ‘stealing of Guyana’s joy’, the Minister said that she is not surprised by the comments made by the opposition members and thus she is urging students, parents and teachers alike, to continue to be jubilant about the good results.“Don’t let them rain on your parade,” Manickchand said.As for the pointed comments about the bad governance by the Ministry of Education of the sector, the Minister said, “some of these commentators need to make themselves relevant, and so talk for the sake of talking.”She alluded to the fact that the current Shadow Minister of Finance, Carl Greenidge,Geno Smith West Virginia Jersey, “failed to produce audited accounts from 1983 to 1991, the years he served as Finance Minister”. This, she stated, deems him “unauthorized to speak about good governance”.Responding to comments that it is the inability of poor parents and poor communities to provide assistance and guidance to children, resulting in poor performance, the Minister pointed out that the children who performed excellently had the full support of their parents,Matt Holliday Cardinals Jersey, family members and their communities.“These children did not come from rich and wealthy families. Some are from poor, single-parent families and some are still struggling to make ends meet. What contributed to their success, however, was the fact that parents were behind their children foot to foot.”The Education Minister, thus, urged that politicians be more “constructive in their observations and criticisms.”She said that if the opposition wanted to be helpful to Guyana and to the country’s children, in addition to participating in public forums on how to improve pass rates; or notifying her of their personal views, “one of the most important things they could do, that would go a long, long way, would be to talk and counsel their constituents on the importance of family involvement and parental support to children in their school years and after.”Mathematics Pass Rates 1985 to 2013 Year Mathematics %1985                 22.661986                 16.031987                 17.801988                 16.551989                 13.52199016.89199119.14199218.36199317.10199415.65199519.22199616.67199713.50199817.86199918.50200024.50200119.60200223.10200324.80200425.51200531.40200625.20200723.94200830.64200931.46201034.50201130.35201229.69201328.98