(CARICOM Secretariat, Turkeyen, Greater Georgetown, Guyana) In his inaugural address at a CARICOM Council for Human and Social Development (COHSOD) Meeting, Guyana’s newly appointed Minister of Education, Hon Sheik Baksh sounded the call for CARICOM policy makers to take on board the impact some regional decision in the area of human and social development could have on constituents in the Community.

Speaking at the opening ceremony of the Fifteenth Meeting of COHSOD, which is being held under in Guyana under the theme “Investing in Human resources with Equity - with special reference to Education and Labour”, Minister Baksh pointed to a number of areas slated for discussion by the COHSOD that are of special interest to Guyana.

In the area of teacher migration he stressed that Guyana continued to feel the negative impact. The Minister informed that as much as 300 teachers migrate from Guyana each year, and also that over a two year period, only 791 teachers were trained. He said this, compounded with the reality that 40 percent of teachers are untrained, is significantly impacting on the quality of education being provided.

In the area of Technical and Vocational Education and Training, the Minister said Guyana had a particular interest, as the country had moved to set up additional centres to meet an increased demand.

Minister Baskh informed that a re-fashioned Caribbean Examination Council (CXC) programme for Caribbean Certificate of Secondary Competence would be supported by Guyana. He stressed that it was good that the programme as revised would cater to different aptitude other then academic. He pointed to the reality that Guyana has a national secondary school enrollment of 73 per cent but with only a 48 per cent completion, “we will have to find other solutions to cater for different aptitudes.”

In keeping with the theme for the COHSOD Meeting, Guyana’s Minister of Labour, Hon Manzoor Nadir also addressed the opening ceremony. He commented on the issue of the free movement of people, a pillar of the CARICOM Single Market, adding that the recipient country and the country from which people move need to collaborate to ensure that the skill base of the latter is not depleted.

The Fifteenth Meeting of COHSOD concludes on Saturday 21 October 2006.