Berbice River communities hear pledges for growth

Residents from communities along the Berbice River gathered in large numbers at Wiruni, Region Six, on Wednesday to hear plans aimed at improving infrastructure, education, health care, and economic opportunities in the area.

Prime Minister, Brigadier (Ret’d) Mark Phillips, outlined several initiatives designed to benefit Berbice River communities, stressing the government’s focus on inclusion and sustainable growth.

He announced that the local health centre had not only been repaired but modernised, and that a new secondary school had been built to serve the area’s young people.

“And with regards to the training of young people, no longer are we training 200 or 300 teachers; we train teachers by the thousands in Guyana today,” he said.

Teacher training has also been significantly expanded, with between 1,500 and 2,000 educators graduating annually to ensure every school is staffed by trained or trainee teachers.

PM Phillips said that in the first five years, the government’s target was the distribution of 20,000 GOAL scholarships. “We surpassed 39,000. These are the opportunities that we have been working overtime on, implementing for you, the people. In the next five years, we will build upon our achievements from 2020 to 2025 and do even more,“ PM Phillips said.

He said these opportunities will continue to grow in the coming years to boost human resource development in rural and hinterland areas.

In addition, residents were informed of ongoing and planned investments in housing, roads, and job creation.

“When we took office, tens of thousands of people were out of a job. People were not working, some were demoralised, and step-by-step, policy-by-policy, decision-by-decision, we implemented and brought this country to where we are today. Today, we have over 60,000 jobs created in the private sector, the public sector, and across all administrative regions of Guyana”, PM Phillips said.

The Prime Minister pledged that the next five years will build upon these achievements, with targeted projects to strengthen livelihoods and services in Berbice River communities.