Oil, Finland and education in Guyana

ON the cusp of an oil economy, the central focus in my humble estimation, for all policy-makers at this time should be: how can we construct an education system from pre-nursery to tertiary that equips our young people with the skills to make them competitive in an interconnected global economy.

If there is an education model from which we seek to draw inspiration, I say look to Finland. I will lead the effort to caution from the outset that the Finnish education circumstances are vastly different from the Guyanese education realities; but putting money in the right places for results is universally applicable.

In January 2017, Clifford Krauss of the New York Times reported, ‘Guyana, the tiny English-speaking South American country, is poised to become the next big oil producer in the Western Hemisphere, attracting the attention and investment dollars of some of the biggest oil companies in the world’. On June 29th 2017, the Economist reported, ‘South America’s only English-Speaking [country] is one of the poorest. But perhaps not for longer: Guyana has struck black gold’. Bloomberg documented that by the end of the decade, Guyana‘s oil well could potentially hold 700 million barrels, worth 40 billion at today’s international crude price. The worth of Guyana’s inchoate oil industry has varied, depending on the sources and complex calculations; but for all intents and purposes of this column, 40 billion will be the financial reference point to illustrate this case. This means the flow of revenues will make the present government the first in the post-independence period to have such budgetary largesse at its disposal without imperialistic loan arrangements. While there are vast areas of responsibilities that will deserve the government’s attention, I am of the view that education should get its due. Further, if there is a government that possesses the will and the financial rectitude to deliver a long-term education programme to fundamentally transform our reality, it is this coalition government. It is against this background that I opine hereunder with much confidence that my suggestions will be heeded.

If there is a gathering of young people with career aims in a room in Guyana and the question is asked: ‘Who wants to be a teacher?’ , it is reasonable to assume that few hands will be shown. If that question is posed to young people in Finland, about 70% of those present would raise their hands. Therein lies our focus. The story behind the reason for such different reactions to the idea of becoming a teacher goes all the way back 40 years ago in Finland.

The Nordic country of Finland has repeatedly been at the top of the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) rankings over recent years. This has been possible because of several main reasons: less competition and more cooperation among schools in the public and private spheres. Teaching is the most respected profession in Finland. Finland’s education system listens and is guided by research, college tuition is free, pre-school is high quality and universal. This does not come easily. This is ungirded and moored by a robust budgetary and financial commitment to education by Finland. In 2014, Finland spent US $13, 865 per student in lower secondary school, as compared to the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) average of US $10,235. Coupled with this, Finland spent 5.7% of its Gross Domestic Product (GDP) on education in 2017. The average OECD country spent 5.1% in the same year. The point which is pellucidly being made is that this magnitude of education achievement is not plucked from thin air; we will have to come way above GY $49.1 billion in any given fiscal year to mimic any semblance of this form of achievement.

Let me be clear: I am speaking of a long-term plan. The Guyana education system today is making strenuous efforts with massive programmes: the feeding programme, the training of numerous teachers ,the introduction of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) usage in the education system, the evidence-based approach to policy-making, the drive to focus on Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) and unprecedented budgetary allocations for Math programmes and more. This is great, but there needs to be more long-term strategic, robust, state-led vision that coincides with the nascent oil industry. Our mission should be to use oil revenues to construct a knowledge-based modern education system that will produce a ‘Golden Generation’ after 20 years of implementation. From pre-nursery, pregnant mothers can be trained to read and educate kids in their infant years, before they enter nursery.

At the nursery level, the best and brightest teachers receiving special pay for their masters and doctoral qualifications with full decentralised classroom control just like Finland, not subject to the bureaucracy of Ministry control; primary education introduced with specialised Science and Math teachers; a new teacher training institution housed on the campus of the University of Guyana, with a possible name such as the ‘Guyana Arts, Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics Teacher Training Institute’. A secondary system that includes a focus on technical vocation education that can produce the technical minds for a knowledge-based economy. A competency-based system that is supported by the necessary equipment and machinery for maximum practice and physical experience. The Council for Technical and Vocational Education (CTVET) can come up with all the grand visions and policies, it comes down to the will to spend. Competency-based training requires heavy investment, this is our opportunity to do this. If we can create a workforce that can attract Fortune 500 tech companies, we can say that oil revenues have been wisely spent. The Minister of Education has the right mindset in this regard, she stated, ‘technical training [is] a key element in Guyana’s development’.

Let us try to emulate the best education system in the world as best as we can apply this to coincide with an economy blessed with oil revenues.

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