Gov’t aiming to create more skilled workers – with $43.1B education sector allocation

GINA, GUYANA, Monday, December 5, 2016

The government is investing heavily in the education sector to create a better labour force, one that is highly skilled, Government Member of Parliament (MP), Michael Carrington said in support of Budget 2017.

Day one of the budget debate began in the National Assembly, Parliament Buildings today. Carrington lauded the budget’s investment in the education sector during his presentation.

“Without education you cannot create jobs, without skills you cannot create jobs. The PPP is complaining that we did not create jobs, but they did not educate the people to get the jobs,” Carrington said.

The education sector was allocated $43.1B or 17.2 percent of the $250B, 2017 Budget. The allocation is the largest of all the sectors, and is an attempt by the government to let education be the tool which boosts the country’s most vital resource, its human resource.

“… after 2017, I’m telling you, all those children coming out of school will come out with a skill where they could do something to create a job for themselves,” Carrington stated.

Budget 2017 allocated $2.5B for Technical Vocational Education (TVET). The budget also provides for about $2.4B to be invested to improve learning outcomes of students, at the secondary level, with the aim of expanding the pool of employable, certified labour that can adequately bridge the skills gap.

The budget also provides $3.5B to address issues of overcrowding and facilities’ improvements. A sum of $1.9 B will provide for the school feeding programme and $578M for the purchasing of textbooks.

Carrington said this investment is to afford the children in school opportunities to be gainfully employed in the future. “They must be able to understand that if they cannot find a job, they must be able create one for themselves,” Carrington explained.

Carrington noted that the opposition during their tenure in office did not educate the population on diversification. Referencing the production of rice and sugar, the MP noted that for over 23 years, the now opposition did not educate Guyanese on how to utilise the raw materials and add value to them.  “A vast amount of raw material go waste due to the failure by the opposition to educate our people to utilise the raw material,” Carrington said.

The 2017 National Budget, Carrington argued, will afford Guyanese the opportunity and the knowledge needed to diversify their products while at the same time propel the economy and create jobs.

The Government MP said that his only wish is to have Guyanese in a position that they can take care of themselves. He stated that the budget has increased because “we want to pay better wages, because we want to pay a better pension, because we want to have better education for our people.”

Meanwhile, opposition MP, Priya Manickchand said Budget 2017 “is a useless budget in terms of our development.” Manickchand added that the budget falls short of what the nation and people of Guyana need, and referred to it as “a short- term spending plan.”

 

By: Tiffny Rhodius