Minister Manickchand named Commonwealth Wise Woman

Having engaged extensively with the Commonwealth of Learning (CoL) to launch the Workforce Recovery Initiative in Guyana along with Coursera, Minister of Education, Priya Manickchand, has been recognised as a Commonwealth Wise Woman and is now a mentor on the Commonwealth Wise Woman Mentoring Project.

The Education Minister was instrumental in launching the Workforce Recovery Initiative program in Guyana that offered 4,000 free online courses to Guyanese from reputable Universities through Coursera, a press release from her ministry noted on Saturday.

Since launching this program on September 5, 2020, over 53,371 Guyanese registered to pursue courses in various areas, and 43,305 certificates have been issued to 9,473 persons. Guyana has become the leading country under the Workforce Recovery Initiative as it relates to persons registered and graduates. According to the release, the advocacy for continuous and lifelong learning and the proactiveness of the minister most likely came to the attention of the Commonwealth of Learning because of the successful rolling out of the Coursera program spearheaded by the minister and the outstanding response from Guyanese.

According to the Commonwealth of Learning, through the Commonwealth Wise Women (CWW) Mentoring project, the organisation plans to engage girls and women at the grassroots level in underserved communities to become part of the program. Through the CWW project, the Commonwealth of Learning plans to promote change by empowering girls and women to become leaders.

Minister Manickchand joins other global leaders as mentors such as the Chief Executive Officer of the Commonwealth of Learning, Professor Asha Kanwar; Pro Vice-Chancellor and Principal of the University of the West Indies Open Campus, Dr. Luz Longsworth; United Nations Under-Secretary-General and Executive Director of UN Women, Dr. Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka and the Secretary-General of the Commonwealth, Patricia Scotland QC and fellow Guyanese Dr. Paulette Henry.

Minister Manickchand also plans to launch the Guyana Chapter of the Commonwealth Wise Women Mentoring Project here in Guyana to assist girls and women to recognise their value and achieve their full potential. She plans to involve mentors from all sectors to help with the successful mentoring of candidates from all across Guyana.