Prioritising education

Education is the power that transforms societies; the vehicle that takes the poor out of poverty, and the tool that gives learners the knowledge, skills, and confidence to reach their full potential. The value of education cannot be overemphasized, and the drive to facilitate equitable access to education for all is equally important. This overarching vision is not strange to the government; in fact, it has been the hallmark of government’s tenure in office.

This is evident through the heavy investment made in education year after year, to ensure that our children are provided with a quality education and are placed on a trajectory to be meaningful contributors to society and the country as a whole.

The drive to ensure every child receives an education despite the uncomfortable financial circumstances of their family cannot be ignored, and the recent move to provide free uniforms to all learners in the public school system is a firm indication that the government it is not leaving this important matter to chance. This laudable intervention removes the pressure on poor parents, particularly single-parent mothers who struggle to make ends meet and to send their children to school, residing in the hope that the day will come when they will enjoy a better life.

The Gy$300 million program strengthens the optimism of these parents and reaffirms government’s commitment to ensure that children from poor families are not deprived of the opportunity to receive an education. Education opens up the horizon of learners to dream big dreams, and this intervention will, no doubt, give them the push to continue pursuing their ambitions. Their hopes of becoming doctors, lawyers, engineers, teachers, accountants and scientists, to name a few professions, must not be erased by poverty. Here is where poor parents need to recognise the value of education and the need to ensure that their children are educated. Undeniably, education is the gateway that will positively transform their lives, and their children’s education must be treated as a topmost priority. The school uniform programme is one of several interventions designed to lessen the financial responsibility on parents to send their children to school. Notable among the lot is the Gy$1billion school feeding programme.

Initial signs indicate that the school feeding programme has had a positive impact on attendance rates across the country. It is expected that this programme will go a far way in not only improving students’ attendance, but also in providing the vulnerable school population with the necessary encouragement to commit themselves to attending school and to excel within the education system. In all of this, children have the responsibility to make their parents proud by performing to the best of their abilities. Teachers, too, have to be agents of change committed to improving learning outcomes of every child under their charge. Generally, it is the responsibility of all stakeholders to work together as a team to achieve better educational outcomes from every child in this country. This approach will enable the government to receive value for the billions of dollars it injects in the education sector annually. The quality of human resource of a nation is easily judged by the precentage of its population that is literate. It cannot be overstated that education is a must if a nation aspires to achieve growth and development; and, more importantly, sustain it.

This may well explain why rich and developed nations of the world have very high literacy rates and productive human resource. In the move for every child to receive an education, efforts must be made to ensure that no one is left behind. In this light, the national remediation programme targeting weak learners in the areas of English and Mathematics at the primary and secondary levels during the July/ August holidays is a commendable step by the Education Ministry. This initiative aims to upgrade these learners to an acceptable level in the two core subject areas, so that they would be better able to cope with their studies in their new classes when school reopens in September. These interventions are designed to provide much-needed support for parents and their school age children. It is now important that the students take their studies seriously, and live up to the high expectations of their parents.