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While approximately $31.8 billion or 16.6 percent of last year’s budget was expended in the education sector, Government has this year decided to augment spending in this sector. According to Finance Minister, Mr. Winston Jordan,NFL Jerseys Cheap Wholesale, Government this year has allocated a total of $40.3 billion or 17.5 percent of the $230 Billion 2016 Budget.Speaking in the National Assembly on Friday, the Finance Minister said that this Government’s mandate of education becoming a means to sustainable development, several new initiatives will be advanced within each level of the education sector.As such, he disclosed that the 10 regional education action plans emanating from the national strategic plan for education 2014-2018 will be reviewed and updated, in keeping with the new mandates for the sector and new timelines.Further, he noted that equity and quality across regions will guide Government’s interventions in 2016 and well into the medium term, while focus will be given to education in the hinterland where both the deployment of manpower and the monitoring of education delivery require urgent attention.In recognition of the need to improve access to quality education across the education levels, the Finance Minister said that “we have crafted interventions to provide tangible support to families and children.”But according to him, in addition to Government’s efforts, the role of parents in supporting their children’s education must be emphasized as a critical component in ensuring the success of the nation’s children.STRATEGIC INITIATIVESThe Finance Minister also spoke of Government’s ‘Three Bs’ (Boats, Buses and Bicycles) programme. This, he said, was implemented by Government after assessing the plight of pupils and the transportation woes they encounter. And there are plans to expand the programme in 2016 to include Books and Breakfast.And Government, according to Jordan, will also be looking at the issues of school attendance, punctuality and students’ ability to focus after travelling long distances by foot, all of which limit their access to education and thus will be addressed. Further, to ensure children are adequately outfitted for school, he disclosed that 28,000 pairs of footwear will be distributed in the first quarter of this year, primarily within the hinterland and riverain areas.This,Wholesale Jerseys China, according to him, will complement the $424.2 million that has been budgeted for the continuation of the school uniform programme that will benefit over 204,000 children attending schools in the hinterland and on the coastland.Added to this, Minister Jordan told the House that a sum of $1.3 billion was expended on the National School Feeding Programme last year.  However, this year’s programme has been increased to $1.9 billion to cater for a hot meal for over 7,000 additional hinterland students.And in a deliberate effort to ensure that students at all levels have access to teaching-learning materials, “our Government will introduce the Education Resources Delivery Software, in 2016. No child should be asked to learn without having access to the requisite textbooks and our Government will ensure that this barrier is removed,” Minister Jordan pledged.IMPROVING PERFORMANCETurning to the performances of the nation’s children, the Minister noted that the results obtained at examinations point to critical gaps in the quality of education delivery. One key component, he added, is the area of teacher training.Last year, 506 trained teachers were added to the education system and another 415 teachers will be added this year. Further, additional satellite centres in Kwakwani, Kamarang, Moraikobai and Charity will be established to increase the number of trained teachers in the hinterland and riverain areas, Jordan announced.He stressed that equipping teachers and classrooms to ensure more effective subject delivery continues to be a priority. And in an attempt to address the increasing rate of psycho-social problems in schools, Minister Jordan said that teachers will be trained with the requisite competencies and techniques to lend support to school welfare officers. Also,NFL Jerseys China, separate rooms will be made available at schools to render counselling sessions for both parents and students.“Last year, we expended $2.1 billion on the construction, extension, rehabilitation, and maintenance of our educational facilities,Cheap NFL Jerseys,” the Minister disclosed, while adding that “Works were completed on the extensions and rehabilitation of various facilities, including One Mile Primary School and secondary schools at West Demerara and Sand Creek; the Port Kaituma male dormitory; and science laboratories at Corentyne Comprehensive Secondary School and Vreed-en-hoop Secondary.”And according to Minister Jordan, this year too, a sum of $4.3 billion has been allocated to continue infrastructure construction, rehabilitation and repairs. Included in this programme is the completion of the Kato Secondary complex, which is intended to ease the overcrowding at Paramakatoi and provide full secondary education for many students in primary tops.Also included is the construction of a new building for South Road Nursery, Peter’s Hall Primary and Golden Grove and Aurora Secondary Schools.Furthermore, in an effort to ensure access to quality education in the hinterland, over $80 million has been allocated for the provision of adequate accommodation for hinterland teachers, one of the key impediments to deploying trained teachers to the hinterland, Minister Jordan noted.In an effort to improve literacy and numeracy at the nursery level, several initiatives will be pursued, in 2016, he revealed.  As such, he noted that early childhood education resource kits and a teacher’s manual will be procured and distributed to all nurseries and grade one classes in the hinterland regions and targeted riverain areas.The kit is one that contains resources that explicitly target numeracy, science and inquiry, dramatic play and music, art and craft and social studies, thereby providing the foundational tools for appreciation of culture and arts at a young age.The Government is intent on expanding the music programme to an additional 80 primary schools, from the initial 20 schools, with recorders already procured for the benefit of 800 Grade Three pupils.“This budget has made provision for all regions to include music education in the curriculum,” Minister Jordan added, as he observed that “our recent national and regional performance at mathematics was dismal.”He continued by pointing out that “the transformation of any economy is dependent on the ability of its citizens to think cortically and apply appropriate solutions to advance the economy.”To this end, the importance of STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) education to meeting the needs of a modern economy cannot be over-emphasized. Under the Secondary Education Improvement Project, a total of 1,125 tablets will be distributed to seventh grade students and math teachers in eight pilot schools, facilitating better learning outcomes through the use of technology.Additionally, diagnosis of teacher training needs for 153 teachers, through classroom observation, content exams,China NFL Jerseys, item-based analysis of student results on national exams and teacher questionnaires were completed. This analysis, according to Jordan, will serve as the basis for the design of a menu of teacher training activities covering varying teacher competencies and Mathematics content areas.And according to him, too, school participation in the national science fair will be expanded and partnerships with the private sector will be pursued.“In the area of post-secondary education we have allocated $2.2 billion for equipping and upgrading the technical institutes and training centres.” This allocation, he said, will facilitate the acquisition of equipment and upgrades of these facilities, along with producing over 800 persons trained in the fields of information technology, electrical installation and air condition repairs, and motor repairs, among other key specialties.  Also, efforts will be made to strengthen resident training programmes at Kuru Kuru Skills Training Centre, the Minister said.UG UPGRADEAnd Government is committed to providing the necessary resources,NFL Jerseys Cheap, over time, to upgrade the entire University of Guyana (UG) system and ensure that UG has the capacity to attract quality lecturers and researchers as a key input into producing a quality graduate.”Government’s commitment to UG, Minister Jordan said, stems from its appreciation of the critical role a university plays in supporting knowledge-driven economic growth strategies and fostering democratic, socially-cohesive societies.In 2016, “we have allocated $3.2 billion, a 52 percent increase, as a first step to making the university a true institution of higher learning.”The Government will continue to support this vital institution, created just three years before formal independence was granted, by doing all that is necessary to give Guyana a University that will secure economic and cultural independence.“It is both a barometer of, and a critical factor in, determining the quality of our nationhood,” the Finance Minister stressed.