Guyana’s investments in education will yield impressive results

– as students prepare for upcoming CSEC, other exams

As Guyana’s children prepare for upcoming examinations including the Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate (CSEC) and the Caribbean Advanced Proficiency Examination (CAPE), Minister of Education, Priya Manickchand remains adamant that the candidates will perform exceptionally well.

The minister expressed high expectations Monday when she officially opened the National Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Mathematics (STEAM) Fair, at the Cyril Potter College of Education, Turkeyen.

“You are going to see a continuation and multiplication of students doing well…in Guyana, and you are going to see statistics that you could have only ever dreamt of before,” the education minister posited. 

Minister Manickchand’s sentiment comes at a time when the nation is witnessing a wide range of investments in infrastructure, training, and research, to ensure the local learning system withstands any future challenges.

Although the country faced many encounters over the past two years, specifically due to COVID-19, the education ministry still made learning opportunities available through several means, including the printing and distribution of worksheets, additional television programmes, and learning via the radio.

These commendable interventions ensured the nation’s children remained on top of their games, with some even becoming top performers within the Caribbean region.

Several students in Guyana wrote the exams and obtained laudable scores back in 2020 and 2021.

Again in 2022, Guyanese students made light work of the CSEC and CAPE, with some even passing over 20 subjects.

The country’s scholars were subsequently awarded for performances in natural science, technical and vocational studies, humanities, sciences, and business.

Minister Manickchand said even as the country continues to celebrate those achievements, the government’s zeal to do more for the education sector will never cease.

She reiterated her ministry’s move to have 100 per cent of teachers trained by 2025 to support the sector’s transformation

“Even as we are doing that, we are providing textbooks to all the children of this country and so by September of this year all the children in the nursery, primary and secondary schools will have all the textbooks they need,” the minister noted.

Meanwhile, additional funds will be injected to construct a number of learning facilities in areas including Georgetown, Kwebanna Region One; Jawalla, Region Seven; Kopinang, Region Eight; and Karasabai, Region Nine.

It must be noted that the schools in the hinterland regions will reduce the ‘primary tops’ in the areas and provide better accommodation for its students and teachers. The government also wants students to be well-rounded upon their completion of secondary school. Students are currently exposed to additional learning sessions; playing various musical instruments and sports, and foreign languages, while others are benefitting from Technical Vocational and Education Training (TVET).