News from 2001 

Text by SJ Wilkinson and R Ramnarine
Photography by S Cooke, K Spencer and AH Greenhalgh

Meeting to say Goodbye

1st and 6th December 2001

A meeting in Georgetown and an away-day at Shanklands Resort marked the end of the Regional Advisers' three-year contracts.

Ed Denham (Regional Adviser - Region 10) and Paul Worral (Regional Adviser - Region 6) have been in Guyana since January 1999 and have worked as the local coordinators of project activities. With the MOE local counterparts (Bashir Khan for Region 6 and Gloria Britton for Region 10) they have managed developments in all areas of the project - from liasing with consultants and architects to supporting VSOs and other project staff with training events.

Both have also taken key responsibility for developing school management capacity by working with Headteachers and local MOE officers in order to produce School Improvement Plans. Much of their recent work has also included some monitoring of the ongoing building work at several schools in the regions.

Alternative Learning Pathways

November 2001

Andy Borthwick, consultant from the UK, has been working for the past two weeks officers from the Regional Education Offices and Central Ministry of Education looking at the development and support of Alternative Learning Pathways within the secondary education system. (Copies of this consultancy report can be found in the GEAP Reports Bank.)

Steve Cooke of GEAP is due to continue these developments by working with the National Technical Vocation Education and Training (TVET) Task Force, based at the TVET Secretariat at Guyana Technical Institute, Georgetown.

Region 6 IT Conference

20th November 2001

Following the previous success of a regional IT conference in Region 10, Tagore Memorial Secondary School today hosted the first ever Region 6 IT/Education Conference. The conference was attended by Ministry of Education, CPCE Rosehall, CPCE Linden, DFID, GEAP, SDNP, MISU and local teachers. Its aim was to promote awareness of IT in Education.

During the conference all persons had the chance to contribute and share ideas. These ideas will be written up to produce a report that can support further IT development in Region 6. A couple of pictures from the conference can be seen here:

• Demonstrating Networking Management Software
• Group Activities

New Library for Tagore

November 2001

Norma McKenzie, GEAP Language Subject Specialist, has facilitated workshops in Library Management and Cataloguing. The HM and librarians from Tagore Memorial Secondary School were amongst the participants. Since the workshop they have made use of their new skills and knowledge to set-up the new, CIDA-furnished, school library. GEAP has also supported this new library by provided some books and other resources.

Managing Networks more Effectively

October 2001

IT Teachers from all secondary schools in Regions 6 and 10 were invited to attend three days training covering computer networking theory and practice held at Christianburg Wismar Secondary School and Tagore Memorial Secondary School.

This followed the installation of Network Management Software at both school IT Labs, intended to ease the burden of network administration for the school IT Administrators. Marlon Pearson from CWSS and Babita Sangster from TMSS worked alongside the GEAP IT Team to set up the software, support the other IT Teachers and write the IT Administrators Guide.

Awards and Goodbyes

26th June 2001

GEAP Region 10 today awarded all of the teachers and educators that have attended training courses over the past two years by hosting a celebration party at the Watooka Club, Linden.

"Primary-top" teachers received certificates of attendance, and many friends of GEAP gained special awards for their support and work. Teachers, headteachers and Regional Education Officers were thanked for their commitment and motivation and

This ceremony was also a chance for all to say goodbyes to several of the subject specialists that have been working in Linden. Jean Hales (English), Kanthian Sivagnanam (Mathematics), Marjolein Spee (Remedial) and Adrian Greenhalgh (IT) are all leaving the country within the next couple of weeks to return home.

Jean Hales, with Yvonne Joseph and Stephen Wilkinson, was one of the first VSOs to work for GEAP and has been here since March 1999. Her work over the years has included working with teachers in all schools across Linden, organising the Shakespeare Film Festival, supporting local debating competitions and producing a spelling video.

Marjolein Spee joined GEAP in September 1999. She has been involved with remedial reading programmes in schools and with community groups. Recently she has worked closely with Jean to deliver an English class for community members, improving the use of school libraries by training librarians and organising remedial reading classes for students.

Siva joined GEAP in May 1999 and has worked tirelessly to support mathematics teaching across Linden by teaching at CPCE, delivering primary-tops training and producing curriculum resource materials. Recently, he has initiated a group of mathematics teachers that have been organising and developing resources produced by Siva and themselves.

Adrian Greenhalgh joined GEAP in September 2000 and has worked since then to support IT teaching at CWSS and other schools. He has worked closely with the other teacher-trainers to deliver IT training to all of the primary-tops teachers, and took responsibility for training the "IT teachers of tomorrow" at Easter 2001. Recently, he took a key role in supporting the organisation of the Region 10 IT Conference.

Region 10 IT Conference

13th June 2001

Today Ena Gittens, the IT Subject Coordinator for Region 10 chaired the first ever regional IT in Education conference in Guyana. With invitees from schools, the Regional Education Office, private IT schools, GT&T, the Regional Democratic Council (RDC), NCERD, CPCE and the Ministry of Education in Georgetown it was a chance for all to meet and share ideas and start to formulate some ideas with respect to future IT policy.

The following presentations were made:

• IT, Development and Education - Stephen J Wilkinson (GEAP)
• Teaching IT in Guyana's Schools - Adrian H Greenhalgh and Kim Spencer (GEAP)
• Financing IT - Basil Benn (RDC)
• IT Teacher Training - Lex Hogenbosch (CPCE Turkeyen)
• The CWSS IT Lab - Jenny Bourne and Marlon Pearson (Christianburg Wismar Secondary School)

Following the presentations Adrian Greenhalgh facilitated group discussion in five key areas:

• Finance
• Administration at the School and Regional Levels
• Technical Support
• Teacher Training
• Teaching

The day finished with the entire group decided the immediate action to be taken. A report from the conference will be available online very soon.

NSSS Students go to Work

28th May to 6th June 2001

98 students from Form 4 of New Silvercity Secondary School in Linden, Region 10 spent 7 working days at various work placements over Linden this week. The vocational areas were extremely diverse and included teaching, accounting, finance, woodworking, and catering. Three students even came to work with GEAP as computer technicians!

This work experience activity was organised by Miriam Gillis (HM) and teachers at the school together with Donna Simon (EWO) of the Region 10 Education Department. GEAP supported this positive initiative with organisational support and a booklet of careers-guidance activities, as developed by the Guidance Subject Specialist, Stephen J Wilkinson.

All employers, teachers and, most importantly, students judged the activity to be a great success.

Foundations laid for new Linden School

May 2001

Following the start of building work earlier in the year, the foundations have been finished for the replacement school for Linden Foundation at Amelia's Ward. Pictures of this work are available to view online:

• Science Lab
• Classroom block
• IT Lab

The new school is due to be open by September 2002. More information about the specifications can be found on the infrastructure information page.

Artist's Sketch of the new Linden Foundation Secondary School

6th GEAP Retreat - Georgetown

7th, 8th May 2001

As a five year project, June 2001 marks the half way point for GEAP. To prepare for this milestone the entire GEAP team took a little time out from normal activities to reflect a little on the progress made so far.

Held at the Georgetown Club, the first day was spent reviewing the activities of the last two years to see how they have helped GEAP move towards meeting its objectives and to see how they have improved people's perceptions of education. The areas of Education Management, Community Participation and Improved Teaching received particular attention.

The second day was spent looking forward to the future - planning activities that will help support the Ministry of Education to continue and extend the work of GEAP after the project finishes in 2003/4.

Improving Management

3rd May 2001

The Ministry of Education, with support from GEAP, today hosted a one-day conference to support the review and development of the management structures of Regional Education. Held at the Georgetown club, issues discussed included:

• Skills needed for effective education management
• Education management roles
• Current activities
• Planning for future developments

In attendance were the Chief Education Officer (CEO), the Chief Planning Officer, Deputy CEO (Development), Head of NCERD, Principal of CPCE, Assistant CEO (Secondary) and many other personnel from the MOE, PEIP, UNICEF, SSRP/MISU and of course GEAP.

2nd Annual Linden Careers Fair

2nd April 2001

Following the success of last year's Linden Careers Fair, as organised by GEAP and New Silvercity Secondary School (NSSS), a similar event took place today at the Linmine Constabulary Hall today. Form 3 students attended from all five secondary schools in Linden, as well as Form 4 students from the secondary departments of the primary schools.

As last year the event was sponsored and partly facilitated by GEAP. However, this support was far less than last year - additional sponsorship was forthcoming from UNICEF, and NSSS took a much increased role with the organisation. For this, thanks must go to Racquel Fraser, Grace Antoine, Odette Thomas and the headteacher, Miriam Gillis.

UK Study Tour

24th March 2001

Fifteen headteachers and Ministry of Education personnel today left for the United Kingdom to study education developments in the Bristol area. Organised and funded by GEAP, they will spend two weeks studying education management issues with some emphasis on the development of Information Technology and Literacy. The names and areas of interest are listed below:

Caribbean Study Tour

11th March 2001

Twelve teachers, headteachers and regional education officers flew out of Guyana today, destined for Caribbean Islands  to study recent education developments. Organised and funded by GEAP, they will spend a couple of days in Barbados before moving on to Dominica or St. Lucia. They will return to Guyana on the 17th March. The names and areas of interest are listed below:

Let's Get Motivated!

3rd February 2001

As part of the community development input of GEAP, a one-day workshop was held today in Coomacka Mines, Linden for youths that have left school early and now find themselves unemployed. Topics covered during the day including self-esteem, entrepreneurship and community action and sessions were facilitated by Patricia Wilson and Diana Swan of GEAP.

GEAF II

February 2001

The second GEAP Education Access Fund Presentation Ceremony was held today. Monies from it were awarded to community groups from Regions 6 and 10 in order for them to develop local education projects. The groups and projects receiving money were:

Region 6 Village 68 Youth Access Group Sewing Classes Crabwood Creek Each One Teach One Skills Training

Region 10 Abundant Life Resource Unit Creative Women Fellowship Coomacka Youth Club