Guyana

Allocation: US$3.5 million

Years: 2020-2022

Grant agent: UNICEF

Key document: Application and program document

The US$3.5 million grant supports:

• providing learning materials and additional resources to vulnerable groups in the hinterland, deep riverine and remote coastal regions, to ensure continuity of learning for those unable to access digital formats. This includes home-based learning packages, interactive radio and television lessons, pre-loaded flash drives with content suitable to different levels, bilingual alternatives for Venezuelan refugees, and guidance for teachers and parents on their use.
• increased access to online learning for vulnerable communities around the capital by providing internet infrastructure and access to online platforms, as well as devices and training for teachers and education officers to support the delivery of online learning.
• the well-being and safety of children once schools re-open through sensitization programs and media campaigns, psychosocial support, WASH programs, the provision of protective equipment in vulnerable areas, and sanitation rounds for all schools.
• an assessment on learning loss to address learning gaps from the pandemic.

In late March 2020, the UNICEF office in Guyana received a GPE grant of US$70,000 to support the Ministry of Education in planning its response to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.

In the last decade, Guyana has made important progress in improving access to education at all levels, by increasing the number of trained teachers, providing more access to interactive technology, in particular computers, and upgrading physical facilities.

Despite this progress, Guyana’s education system is still recovering from years of underinvestment and faces many challenges, including quality and equity of early childhood education services, teaching quality, and accessing reliable education data.

From 2006 to 2012, public sector allocations to education averaged 3.8% of GDP.

Guyana’s education sector plan (ESP) 2014-2018 outlines two priorities:

• Increasing learning outcomes for all levels of education and all sub-groups.
• Decreasing the differences in learning outcomes between sub-groups, especially between students in coastal and hinterland schools. The learning outcomes of primary concern are literacy and numeracy, followed by science and technology.

The plan’s outcome indicators include:

• Increasing the percentage of grade 4 students who master literacy to 50% by 2018
• Increasing the proportion of grade 6 students who earn 50% or more in core subjects to 40%
• Improving the percentage of students who pass tests in math, English and Science in public secondary schools to 60%.

The ESP adopts various strategies to address quality and equity issues, such as strengthening literacy and numeracy programs, increasing the number of trained teachers, improving the school environment, targeting of interventions to disadvantaged groups and strengthening sector governance and management.