The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) which serves as the UN Refugee Agency, donated 200 electronic tablets and 8,000 ‘Access to Education in Guyana’ brochures to the Ministry of Education.
Ms. Cecilie Guerrero, Head of the UNHCR office in Guyana said that the agency appreciates the very close collaboration it shares with the Ministry of Education. She said that the ‘Access to Education in Guyana’ brochure was developed by the ministry with support from the UNHCR to give parents of migrant children guidance on enrollment into the formal school system in Guyana.
She said that the guide gives instructions to not only parents who possess all the documents required for enrolment but to those parents who do not have all the documents to let them know how their children can still be enrolled.
“So we are very thankful that we are together and can have this distributed to the schools and UNHCR will also do our part to distribute through our community network,” she noted.
Regarding the tablets, she said that the UN agency recognizes the importance of technology and will advocate for other donor agencies to come on board and contribute similar items to promote education through technology.
The Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Education, Mr. Alfred King said that among the priorities of the Ministry of Education is to ensure the access and improved quality of education for all children of school age in Guyana.
He said that the Ministry is trying to use all the possible resources or partnerships to support learners when they are in school and even at home. He said that the Government of Guyana wants to ensure that all children who are considered vulnerable or come from disadvantaged situations are supported so that there can be no excuses why they are not in the formal education system.
Mr. King added that integral to these efforts is the necessary technological inputs and as such on behalf of the Minister of Education and staff of the Ministry, he welcomed the UNHCR’s involvement by making the donations possible.
Meanwhile, the Coordinator of the Risk Management and Migrant Support Section (RM&MSS) of the Ministry of Education, Mrs. Rampattie Prashad-Bisnauth said that the information on the brochure is presented in both English and Spanish. This is so since the majority of migrant children originate from Venezuela.
Moving forward, she said that her Unit will be looking to have the forms related to the enrolment of children translated into Spanish to have an even more efficient process for migrant families.
Ms. Leila Mamadashvillie, Associate Programme Officer, UNHCR, Mr. Ameer Ali, Assistant Chief Education Officer (Examinations) and Deputy Chief Education Officer (Amerindian and Hinterland Education Development), Mr. Marti DeSouza were also present at today’s handing over.
