Education key to transforming Guyana – President Ali

His Excellency, Dr. Mohamed Irfaan Ali has reminded that an essential and indispensable element of government’s agenda to transform Guyana, is the building of a more equitable society.

Delivering the keynote address at the Harvard Business School’s Virtual faculty workshop on the micro economics of competitiveness on Monday, the Head of State said this is being done by providing educational opportunities for citizens all across the country.

“Every Guyanese person, irrespective of the region in which they live, irrespective of their ethnic or religious background, would have an equal opportunity and stake in the development of our country and resulting to prosperity. And how are we doing this? How we’re doing this is by one, rolling out universal access to world class education as a centerpiece, of personal upliftment and empowerment.”

He outlined that this means that Guyanese will have access to quality nursery, primary, secondary and before the end of the first five years in office, tertiary education.

“The power of education as a means, having access to primary and secondary education, supporting attendance at school, through a free uniform programme, a free feeding programme, for at risk students’ transportation allowance. All of these are benefits the government is giving to ensure not only 100 per cent primary and secondary universal access to primary and secondary education, but to ensure attendance are not barred by issues of hunger, cost of transportation, access to schooling. The government is providing this.

Improvement in equality, to eliminate disparities in regional education and to ensure that there is no gap between urban and regional education in many developing countries’ experience is there’s a marked difference in the quality of education in rural areas and urban areas. Our strategy is targeted at removing that gap and ensuring there’s clarity in the quality of education that is delivered.” Since assuming office in August 2020, the PPP/C Government has assiduously worked to ensure educational opportunities are available. This was done through the Coursera initiative and the roll out of the Government’s 20,000 scholarships programme.