Georgetown: With the new school year well underway, the Ministry of Education (MOE) is pleased to report that an additional 2,681 children are now benefitting from the Ministry’s new nursery age initiative, which was announced earlier this year, and is now being implemented. Figures presently coming in to the Ministry from across the ten administrative regions and Georgetown suggest an average of 23 percent increase in the enrollment of nursery children, as a result of the new age requirement.
Current statistics
According to the Assistant Chief Education Officer (Nursery) Ms. Ingrid Trotman, from the 465 new children enrolled in nursery schools in Region 1, 115 are from the new age cohort. This figure accounts for 25 percent of the total number enrolled. In Region 2, the Ministry saw 989 new children registered for nursery school of which 158 or 16 percent are from the new age cohort. Region 3 enrolled a total of 1845 new nursery children of which 311 are from the new age cohort. This number amounts to 17 percent of the total children enrolled in that Region.
The number of new children benefiting from the new nursery age in Region 4 amounts to 580. This figure equals 20 percent when juxtaposed with the total number enrolled for this new school year which totals 2,934. Region 5 registered 895 students of which 150 are of the new age cohort accounting for 17 percent of the entire number registered.
In Region 6, the total number of children registered for nursery school is 1,206. Of that number 314 are from the new cohort and represents 26 percent of the pupils registered for this new school year. In addition, Region 7 enrolled a total number of 177 new nursery children of which 47 are from the new cohort; accounting for 27 percent of the new children enrolled for this new school year.
Region 8 registered 198 new children of which 42 or 21 percent are from the new age cohort, while Region 9 registered 58 new children as a result of the new age cohort amounting to 17 percent of the 339 total number of nursery school children registered.
The only Region to show a 49 percent enrollment rate of children within the new nursery age cohort is Region 10. Of the 1,165 nursery children enrolled, 568 or 49 percent are from the new age cohort.
Georgetown registered a total of 1,823 new nursery children of which 338 or 19 percent are from the new age cohort.
Measures in place
With the increased number of children attending nursery school across Guyana, the MOE made arrangement for additional furniture to be procured as well as new books and toys. Additional nursery teachers have been recruited and strategically placed to absorb the increased intake of nursery school children within the sector.
The MOE after announcing the new nursery age earlier this year, held a number of public consultations across the country to inform parents of the essential things they needed to do in order to prepare their children for entry into the nursery school environment. Parents were encouraged to ensure they teach their children simple but important things such as feeding themselves and using the toilet.
The change of age for enrollment at nursery school came because of pleas made to the minister at her out reaches all over the country. This change has allowed thousands of children who would have had to wait to until September of 2015 to start school the benefits of an early start at formal education.
The Ministry of Education would like to encourage parents to ensure that all school-aged children in the home are attending school
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