Govt has placed education as a main priority

Dear Editor,

Education is a must. It is unequivocally and universally recognised as one of the major building blocks of development.

In this regard, Guyana is like any other serious country. It has prioritised education, realising that it is truly the only avenue for poverty reduction, health amelioration, and gender equality promotion. With these three, there is bound to be a movement toward peace and stability.

Since 1992, Guyana has placed education as one of its main priorities. The Ministry of Education has been assiduously working to ensure that resources be made available and that systems be implemented for the revamping, overhauling, modernisation and maintenance of this important sector.

So far, there have been steadily increasing budgetary allocations, as tokens of commitment to nation building.

Guyana has already been ranked as one of the highest developing countries in the category of Education Index of the United Nations Human Development Report.

Equitable and facile access to free education from nursery through secondary is a major reason for Guyana’s estimated literacy rate of 96 per cent.

This is one of the highest in the Western Hemisphere. One must note that had it not been for the substantial monetary input, this outcome would not have been realised.

Thus far, the education sector is continuing to receive the largest chunk of the National Budget. This year’s allocation is Gy$24.3 billion, representing an increase of Gy$2.5 billion more than the 2010 allocation.

This increase has been steadily improving, too. Measured not numerically alone (taking inflation into account), but via a percentile number, the fact of the importance of education becomes quite graphic. In 1992, about 0.03 went into education.

Today this percentile measurement has mounted to 0.15. This is five times more.

But money is not all. There is also a plan. One can think of the Teachers Training that is taking place. Teachers actually mould a nation. It is imperative that Guyana’s children receive the best possible education.

In this vein, a US$4.2 million Guyana Improvement Teacher Education Project was initiated. Gy$200 million was budgeted in 2011 towards this programme, which seeks to improve quality and efficiency of teacher education.

A further Gy$919 million has also been budgeted for teacher training, with the aim of achieving the medium-term target of 70 per cent trained teachers by 2013. Annually, over 500 teachers are being trained at the government’s expense at the Cyril Potter College of Education (CPCE).

In prioritising education, the way it has so far, Guyana has really started to turn around.

Sincerely,

Joyan Thomas