CubaPLUS Magazine

A total of 1,796 teachers graduated this Wednesday from the Cyril Potter Faculty of Education, the only one of its kind in Guyana, increasing the number of teachers trained in the country.

According to information from local media, this means that 99.5% of teachers in classrooms are trained or in training, in line with the objective of the Ministry of Education of having 100 percent of trained teachers in the classrooms.

Of the total, 477 teachers graduated from the CPCE Early Childhood Education Program, 841 from the Primary Education, 238 of the Secondary Academic Program and 240 of the Secondary Prevocational, that is, a total of 1,796 trained teachers.

Of that total, 66 are graduates of the Trained Teacher Certification Program, while the remaining 1,730 correspond to the Associate Degree Program.

Speaking at the event, the Prime Minister of Guyana, Brigadier (retired) Mark Phillips, highlighted the importance of having trained teachers in the classrooms, while reiterating the government commitment to promote quality education by investing in initiatives tangible, including the improvement of educational facilities, the expansion of the use of information and communication technologies (ICT) in education, as well as the increase of scholarship opportunities, among others.

For her part, the Minister of Education, Priya Manickchand, urged the recent graduates to add value to every child they come into contact with, as they advance in their career as teacher.

She also stated that 87% of graduates are women, while 20 percent come from communities in the interior of the country.

Of the 238 graduates as teachers are high school academics, 78 percent have training in English, 75 percent in mathematics, 35 percent in science, 31 percent in social studies, and 9 percent in Spanish.

This graduation is considered the largest that this center has ever achieved in the country, as well as the largest number of teachers in the Caribbean region.