Senior Assistant Registrar (retired) for the Caribbean Examinations Council (CXC), Dr. Gordon Harewood, said Guyana is on the verge of exciting times in the history of the country.
Speaking at a workshop for Senior Education Officials on curriculum review at the Ramada Princess Hotel in Georgetown on Wednesday, Dr. Harewood reminded that the target for the commencement of commercial oil and gas production is set from March 2020, which is “just around the corner.”
He pointed out that, “March 2020 that is like next week, is when the first barrels of oil are to be loaded to tankers offshore. Imagine that and imagine the students who are currently writing CXC exams when they started their school career at nursery school nobody had a clue that Guyana in 2020 will be an oil-producing country. Oil on the curricula then was something that happened in Trinidad and Venezuela.”
It is for this reason that he strongly advised that the revision of the school’s curriculum should take into consideration these changing times.
Dr. Harewood said, “As educators, we are living in the best of times, it is exciting but at the same time challenging and this whole education sector improvement drive really has the potential to do meaningful work and meaningful results in the lives of our children.”
He urged the educators to be a part of the change process in moulding the new Guyanese citizen. “We want to see in 2020,” he declared.
He explained that, “It is not an opinion, it is a fact Guyana is going to change significantly and we as educators have to be moving with that change and as far as possible ahead of that change and preparing students who are now in nursery school to live in a Guyana where that change is happening every day.
Dr. Harewood is part of a team of consultants who are working along with the Ministry of Education to assist with the revision of the school’s curriculum based on leading best practices.
Guyana’s school curriculum was last reviewed in the 1990s.
