The Committee of Supply today approved $460 million for training initiatives, including scholarships falling under the purview of the Ministry of Education.
As the budget consideration unfolded, Opposition Member of Parliament (MP) Jermaine Figueira directed questions to the Minister of Education, Priya Manickchand, probing the incorporation of Artificial Intelligence (AI) into the education system.
MP Figueira asked, “The use of Ai has created a plethora of opportunities to enhance learning. Has the ministry taken consideration to use Ai into the school system to help teachers better their craft in the education delivery?”
In response, Minister Priya Manickchand acknowledged the inevitability of AI integration in education, given the global trajectory.
“It’s a beautiful question,” she said.
The minister noted that there is concern in the Caribbean, particularly how to maximize the results of Ai, while teaching that plagiarism will not ensure benefit. She highlighted ongoing efforts to expand ICT access across schools, with a focus on smart classrooms and the long-term goal of establishing smart schools.
Notably, Minister Manickchand stressed the importance of building infrastructure to accommodate AI constructively in education.
“As we study how we incorporate AI into education which is not something we will be able to stop anyway, given the trajectory of the world and AI (the question is) how do we build out the infrastructure so that people can use that constructively. That’s the undertaking,” the Education Minister said.
Moreover, MP Figueira raised concerns about the geographical layout of Guyana and proposed tailoring language education to the proximity of regions to neighboring countries. He specifically mentioned regions near Brazil, Suriname, and Venezuela.
Minister Manickchand acknowledged the importance of considering regional differences and highlighted that students are already exposed to language choices such as Portuguese, Spanish, and French in classrooms.
She also outlined broader efforts to create well-rounded students through a new programme in the making.
“We have also said very publicly and we are going to launch very soon that in addition to having strong academic performers which we already have, we want to see our children coming out more rounded at the secondary level. So we are going to put systems in place,” she said.
Minister Manickchand continued, “The build out is happening right now to make sure each child is exposed to at least one sport, one foreign language, one TVET (Technical and Vocational Training) subject, one musical instrument and a strong sense of volunteerism, at least one they could do 10, they could do how many ever they want and that is what we are trying to build out across secondary schools.”
She highlighted the importance of diversifying language options beyond Spanish, including Japanese, Mandarin, and Hindi, based on the availability of qualified teachers.
Additionally, the Committee of Supply has approved an overall sum of $135 billion for the education sector this year. It should be noted that of that sum, $74.4 billion was approved for the Ministry of Education.
