| In light of the fact that Information Communication Technology (ICT) has been recognised as an important factor in the delivery of education in tertiary institutions, moves have been made in the form of a laboratory at the Cyril Potter College of Education (CPCE).This is according to Project Coordinator of the Guyana Improving Teachers Education Project (GITEP), Tota Mangar, who told this publication yesterday that as recent as March, GITEP, a World Bank-funded project which falls under the purview of the Ministry of Education, launched an ICT Lab at CPCE. Moreover,Wholesale Nike NFL Jerseys, CPCE, Mangar said, is now furnished with some 60 workstations.But the Teachers’ Training College has not been the only tertiary institution to benefit from this level of support from GITEP, as according to Mangar, the University of Guyana School of Education and Humanities, which is tasked with providing teachers’ education, has been similarly endowed.Senior Lecturer (Student Development), Ms Esther Utoh (at extreme right) hands over a laptop to a trainee teacher in the company of three others.The Faculty has been provided with an ICT lab comprising some 30 workstations. And according to Mangar,Deion Jones Falcons Jersey UK, “we saw the need to integrate ICT into the curricula,” a move which is backed by a decision to review, upgrade and in some cases design new courses. This was in fact the recommendation offered by a consultant who was hired to review the operations of the tertiary institutions.Currently being offered to teachers in training are programmes in Mathematical Thinking, Behavioural Analysis, Ethics and Civil Life,Wholesale Jerseys, all of which are new courses that were brought on stream through GITEP.And since the project is one that caters to realising the efficiency of teacher training,Cheap NFL Jerseys China, Mangar said that efforts are being made to build capacity,Wholesale China Jerseys, and provide a conducive atmosphere for trainee teachers. As part of honouring this commitment, he said that GITEP not only procured a generator for CPCE, but also recognised the need for providing students with the ICT lab as well netbooks and laptops.Moreover, a batch of students from CPCE was yesterday presented with laptops for their personal use, a move which represents a collaborative undertaking between the Ministry of Education and the World Bank.Mangar said that while the exercise at the CPCE Turkeyen Campus yesterday cannot be classified as a free distribution of laptops, it can however be deemed a highly subsidized provision. He explained that since GITEP was created in 2011 with funding from the World Bank in order to improve teachers’ education, a decision was made to procure a quantity of laptops for teachers in training, through the Project.A total of 250 laptops were procured for use by students of the Turkeyen Campus and the Satellite training centres as well. Last year a quantity of laptops was also distributed, Mangar said.Added to this, he disclosed that GITEP will be seeking to provide both the CPCE and the School of Education and Humanities with up-to-date education reading material. This, according to him,Air Max Scontate Uomo, was also seen as a crucial need after an audit of the textbooks at both facilities as well as the CPCE Satellite centres was undertaken.“Based on the findings of the consultant we hired, Nancy George and Associates of Jamaica, recommendations were made and we are now in the process of purchasing these new books for both students and staff,” Mangar said.The Consultant was also tasked with designing a new practicum and observation tools for the teachers in training and according to the Project Coordinator, “the argument is that you would have a more efficient way of teacher observation and practicum.”This move will also aid a year of induction for trained teachers where each will be assigned to a school and monitored in the quest to ensure better efficiency in the school system.But although all funding from GITEP to facilitate such ambitious moves will come to an end in July 2015, Mangar is optimistic that the project will be sustained.“I have a feeling the programme is here to stay and although the funding of the World Bank will end, I am sure the Ministry of Education will take over, because this is the way to go,” he confidently asserted. |
