Children of the Albouystown and Charlestown communities in Georgetown today benefited from an outreach programme by the Education Ministry in partnership with the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) which commemorated International Literacy Day at the Carmel Secondary School.
Literacy Day is commemorated on September 8th each year and focuses on developing listening, speaking and reading skills.
This year’s theme is “Literacy and Skills Development”.
According to the Ministry, the children were encouraged to be strong against peer pressure by 14-year-old Youth Ambassador, Kezia Phillips.
Delivering the feature address was Secretary-General of the National Commission for UNESCO in Guyana, Ms. Patrice LaFleur, who noted that the theme for the day focuses on youths and adults within the framework of lifelong learning.
She said, “the theme speaks to all of us, it speaks to children and adults. Both male and female. When we speak about skills the focus is on knowledge and the competencies for career choices. In Guyana, we want to ensure that every boy and every girl has access to education and can move from one level to the next. We have to ensure that we keep our children in school,” the ministry quoted in a statement.
Further, Ms. LaFleur said that there are many challenges that have to be addressed.
She advised the children that the nature of jobs are changing because of globalisation.
She urged parents to ensure that children learn new skills that are aligned to Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM).
