OP-ED | Education, the pillar for Social Cohesion

By Margaret Burke

“EDUCATION is the surest and swiftest way to reduce inequality…Education is a great equaliser. It is the key to unlocking increased economic opportunities for citizens. It is the surest path to empowering and lifting persons out of poverty and marginalization.

“The country (Guyana) has to reduce the disparities in education between the coastland and the hinterland if it is to become a more equal society. Education is the single most important factor likely to have the greatest impact on hinterland development.” President David Granger in his recent address at the commissioning ceremony of the dormitory for tertiary hinterland students recently.

The President explained that although the hinterland of Guyana ‘occupies over three quarters of our country’, yet the Indigenous population, who are the major occupants of this area is only about 10 per cent. With geographical and historical factors existing, inequality of income distribution, infrastructural development and delivery of public services are still occurring, he added.

‘Land of the Six Peoples’, Guyana has always been a diverse country. However, back in 2015, the APNU+AFC promised a ‘good life for all Guyanese’, regardless of gender, ethnicity or class. The record continues to show the APNU+AFC coalition government as a one that promotes unity and social cohesion between all groups in the country.

Ethnic Relations
The Ethnic Relations Commission (ERC), which was dysfunctional since 2011, was re-established with a different mandate in February, 2018. Headed by Dr. John Smith from the Christian community; Mr. Rajkumarie Singh from the Hindu community and Mr. Roshan Khan from the Muslim community, among other social organisations and groups.

The ERC continues to make significant headway in working towards furtherance of peace and unity in Guyana. For example, just two months ago the organisation held a capacity-building exercise for its employees in an effort to help promote harmony and goodwill among Guyanese. It was reported that such training is very much needed to make them much more conscious, tactical and strategic in fostering better unity amongst the people.

Plan of Action
In 2015, at the National Toshaos’ Council, President Granger laid out a Plan of Action for Hinterland Development, which he has been promoting ever since through the various ministries and agencies. The Plan, he stated, “…aims at reducing inequality between residents of the hinterland and the rest of country by eradicating poverty, promoting employment and economic prosperity and by enhancing access to public services.”

In an effort at a more “inclusive and cohesive nation”, he noted that “closing the educational gap” is needed if there is to be a reduction in poverty and the reversal of underdevelopment and unemployment, while lessening migration in the hinterland.

The President noted, that while government await the outcome of the long-term plans, they are “also making short-term interventions… aimed at boosting overall educational attainment and reducing the educational disparities between hinterland and coastal areas.”

On August 1, in his Emancipation address, the President promised,
“Our expected petroleum revenues, apart from what would be devoted to our Sovereign Wealth Fund, will help us to restore education in accordance with our Constitution. Those resources belong to future generations and future generations will benefit and profit from being educated. This would be an educated nation…
[Guyana] must not be a nation of a few rich people and very poor.”

Even as the coalition government presses onward to the path of uniting the nation, the PPP continues to play the politics of the past, attempting to turn Indo-Guyanese, Afro-Guyanese, Indigenous, Mixed Race and all others against one another. It is a cynical tactic that will only weaken us as a country. This is while they get rich on the mistrust and the disunity of the people.

The fact is that the PPP failed to deliver for all Guyanese in respect to stability and economic progress. There are countless examples where infrastructure crumbled, education system collapsed, and crime spiraled out of control are just a few testimonies of the previous administration.

The ‘Troubles’ or ‘Dark Hour’

Guyana has had its past – some very difficult years of racial disturbances. 1964 is marked as a year when this country went through some very sad times, which most people who lived through that period will never hope to ever be repeated in their life time. Guyana was divided along racial lines and none felt safe, no one could have been comfortable.

‘A type’ of that 1964 situation again raised its ugly head in the more recent past, one which President David Granger refers to as the “Troubles” and also the “darkest hour.” This period was under Mr. Bharrat Jagdeo’s presidency – 1999 to 2011.

The ‘troubles’ spanned the period 2003 – 2010. It engendered fear, confusion, weeping and wailing, massacres, blood flowing in the streets and also in some homes. It was too much for many to handle – a miserable time! It was a time when more than 400 Afro-Guyanese sons, brothers and husbands were gunned down. Extra-judicial killings were the order of the day. Guyana cannot afford to have such experiences repeated. Therefore the coalition, being a government for all the people has started off with systems in place to help bring about healing, reparation and the opening of a new chapter in people’s lives. An educated people are well able to understand, appreciate and act in of what is best for them.

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