‘Education has improved significantly’ – Guyanese believe
─ govt delivered significantly to Guyana’s education
DPI, Guyana, Thursday, September 5, 2019
As promised by His Excellency, President David Granger, the Coalition Government has delivered significantly to Guyana’s education sector.
Investing billions in the sector since taking office in 2015, the government has increased its annual contributions to various educational areas, which is clearly shown in the yearly budgetary allocation beginning from 2016. In that year, a sum of $40.3B was given to the Ministry of Education. In 2017, another $43.1B was allocated. A total of $44.1B and $52.3B was pumped into the same sector, in 2018 and 2019, respectively.
The move by the current administration has profited thousands, providing them with better opportunities for achieving a brighter future. This commitment by the Ministry of Education (MoE) and by extension the government was applauded by the citizenry of Guyana.
Speaking with the Department of Public Information (DPI) at Main Street Georgetown, Yvonne Reynolds highlighted that education in Guyana is “much more improved”. The ex-military official believes that with President Granger at the helm, there is no doubt that the entire nation will receive substantial education. “What I want to say too is that these young people need to take the education that they are receiving now very seriously.”
“I think the government is doing a lot with education, because these days if a young woman gets pregnant, provision is made for them. Instead of dropping out of school and losing out on their education, there are night classes now in many communities and I believe that it is a good initiative,” said retired teacher Roxanne Adams.
According to 73-year-old Derrick Calender, “I believe that the students of today have a better opportunity to acquire a more improved education.” The artist, who has been perfecting his talent for over three decades, is optimistic that brighter days are ahead for Guyana’s citizenry in all sectors. “The people around the market places [idling], I think there should be some source of educational training for them, because they were left out during the last administration, they weren’t given the opportunity to have adequate education because of lack of finance,” Calender opined.
Still ringing in the ears of many is the statement made by the Head of State during his Emancipation address.
“Our expected petroleum revenues, apart from what would be devoted to our Sovereign Wealth Fund, will help us to restore education in accordance with our Constitution. Those resources belong to future generations and future generations will benefit and profit from being educated. This would be an educated nation … We are not making fun with education… there is no better way to spend our petroleum resources than to ensure that Guyana becomes a nation of educated people. Guyana must become the best-educated country in the English-speaking Caribbean.”
The Head-of-State’s Five Bs Initiative – providing boats, buses, bicycles, breakfast and books to students across Guyana also aided in many successes. Under this programme, children in hinterland riverine and targeted communities are now benefiting from the provision of buses, boats, bicycles, books and breakfast all free of charge.