Cattle rearers in Herstelling, East Bank Demerara, are calling on the Ministry of Home Affairs to investigate the stray catchers whom they allege are willfully cutting the ropes securing their cattle and then impounding their animals, while the police are asking for exorbitant fees for their release.According to Lilowattie Ramkarran, frustration has reached its peak, since she constantly has to find money to either have her cattle let out of the pound or keep a constant eye on them, because of stray catchers cutting them loose and carrying them to the pound.This sentiment was also shared with most of the other cattle owners in the village.Lilowattie RamkaranBeing one of the brave residents to go on record, Ms Ramkarran said “when you go to the pound the police asking for $7,000 to get out one of the cows…there is nowhere proper to tie your cows safe now, we want the government that giving out all dem land to build house, and all dem reserve, to put one for cattle farmers.”She explained that when the stray catchers remove the cows, all the stations on the East Bank have to be contacted since some police ranks are reluctant to give any information.“We need a pasture fuh place we cow right hey in Herstelling… we ain’t want one at Mocha or anywhere else whey we got to get stress…we got fuh mine cow, we can’t afford fuh buy milk, chicken or beef. We got fuh mine cow!” Ms Ramkaran stressed.“Now tell me dis, Minister Rohee say if de cow dem nah gat brand pun am it have to go at de pound. I want fuh know if none ah de Minister dem and none of dem family nah mine nothing or plant garden? Or de Minister dem only want to put dem family good and lef we fuh be de struggler fuh put dem whey dem de?”Alluding to the fact that many other complaints were made to the authorities, Ms Ramkarran said the koker at Herstelling needs urgent repairs and this was reported to the NDC and nothing has been done, since the area is sometimes easily flooded.She said her family has sustained lots of losses with all the floods that were experienced and the administration seems unconcerned to address certain issues that affect people’s daily lives.The Ministry of Home Affairs began a massive ‘stray catching’ exercise this year,Jerseys Wholesale, and stray catchers are supposed to be paid $5,000 per animal. Once an animal is caught it is supposed to be kept at the nearest pound, most of which are housed at police stations for a specific period.During that period,Wholesale Jerseys China, the owner can come forward,Wholesale World Cup Jerseys, claim the animal and pay a cost of $5,Cheap NFL Jerseys Authentic,000 in order to get it back. However if that period expires the animal becomes the property of the state and can be disposed of through public auction.“First time was $5,000 then it keep increasing to $7,000… the last time I went, the police show me a piece of paper that say we got to pay $8,000 and some of them taking $10,000 and they say is $200 for every extra night the cow stay in the pound,” a male resident lamented.Given the high value for cows,China Jerseys, owners have been coming forward to reclaim them – not so for the unbranded horses and jackasses,Wholesale Jerseys NFL, which are being kept as guests of the state for indefinite periods. (Rabindra Rooplall)

One of the fundamental principles underlying the vision of the Ministry of Education’s strategic plan is to address the quality of education that is being provided to both teachers and students.This is according to Director of the National Centre for Educational Resources Development (NCERD), Mohandat Goolsaran, who recently revealed that as part of this effort, plans are apace to expand the non-graduate certificate programme in the area of English and Mathematics.As a measure to address poor results in the subject areas of Mathematics and English at the Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate (CSEC) level in the public school system, the non-graduate certificate course programme for teachers was introduced. The first batch of teachers participating in the programme graduated just last week.However, Goolsaran has revealed that the non-graduate programme is now designed to include Physics, Biology, Chemistry,Cheap Jerseys, Information and Technology and Special Education needs. All of the courses are for a duration of 18 months.According to Goolsaran persons have already been enrolled some of whom are almost quarter of the way through. “The area of Physics, Chemistry and Biology are more of a face-to-face mode than the distance mode because those are the areas where the teachers are required to do significant levels of practical laboratory work.“Those persons will be at NCERD once per month going through tutorial sessions with Science tutors assigned to NCERD.”And several television programmes, CDs and DVDs have been created to aid the exercise. In addition, he said that efforts are already in progress to establish a multi-media centre which will be responsible for all of the media production for education.And persons are already being recruited for this centre,Cheap Jerseys, according to Goolsaran.He revealed that a Special Education Unit has been established to deal with children with difficult circumstances, both physical and mental. He noted that special programmes are developed in special need schools to help the academic development of children varying disabilities.And to address the issue of technology education the Ministry has appointed a National Coordinator for Science and Technology. That person,Wholesale Jerseys Free Shipping, according to Goolsaran, is responsible for overseeing the range of training programmes that the Ministry has, all the way from nursery all the way to Technical Vocational Schools and the Teachers Training College.This move is crucial, Goolsaran said, in keeping with national guidelines which are encompassed in the strategic plan.As part of the Ministry’s strategic plan a monitoring and evaluation unit has been put in place to monitor the implementation and the attainment of certain goals outlined by the Education Sector’s Strategic Plan.And parts of the plan, which is geared at working towards improving the delivery of education over a five-year period (2008-2013), have already been put in place according to Education Minister,Wholesale Baseball Jerseys 2018, Shaik Baksh.The Strategic Plan addresses the “bigger goals” of the education sector, he disclosed, including areas such as literacy, school health and nutrition as well as the assessment systems.Accordingly, Baksh has disclosed that the Ministry will commence a review to determine how much progress has been made since the plan was implemented. Baksh revealed that all departments of the Ministry have already submitted work plans and action plans, which according to him details how they will achieve certain goals of the plan.It was early last year that the Minister had announced that the strategic plan was accepted by Cabinet and the donor community. With funding from government and a whopping $20.5M grant through the Education For All Fast Track Initiative (EFA-FTI) it is anticipated that the goals of the plan will be reached within the specified timeframe.Minister Baksh had revealed previously that it was during his attendance to an EFA-FTI meeting in Paris that he was able to solicit the much needed grant. In accepting the details of the plan, the Minister said that the donors paved the way for Guyana to be in receipt of a full three-year tranche of funding which will be made available overtime.And according to the Minister, previously the education sector was afforded annual funding for the FTI initiative for three years, most of which have been used for upgrading of education including the delivery of education, teachers’ houses, school feeding programmes, sanitation facilities, general utility upgrades, resource materials, and learning resource centres.He had noted last year,Cheap Jerseys, too, that the plan will feature health and nutrition prominently