EDUCATION Minister Dr. Rupert Roopnaraine has said that one of the principal goals of the new administration is to significantly build equity within the public education sector by bridging the gap between hinterland students and the students from the coastland. This could be done once there are more equitable and relevant systems of education deliver, even as schools from the regions focus on their curricula.

He made these remarks at the Hinterland Scholarship Programme graduation exercise, which was held at the Arthur Chung Convention Centre on Wednesday evening.
The programme spans almost five decades, granting top students in the hinterland regions the opportunity to study in Georgetown, while catering for their basic needs. The programme has inevitably evolved overtime,to the extent where some scholarship recipients are fortunate enough to receive placements in schools within their regions.
Dr. Roopnaraine said that it is within his power to ensure that any child transferred from the coast to the hinterland should not have any significant change in their education. Additionally, he said a few attempts have been made to some of these regional schools to uplift their standards to the same standards of those schools in Georgetown and on the coast.
The hinterland, said the minister, has long benefited from a unilateral relationship, where the coast has witnessed a high standard in education. With this in mind, the minister said that there is an “upsurge” recognition of the value of the particular unique education that the hinterland has to offer.

“It is against this background [that] what I would like to see established in the near future, is the inverse of the hinterland scholarships where some young, promising students from the coast can be afforded the opportunity to learn in an environment where the true wealth of Guyana’s landscape is within arm’s reach,” explained Dr. Roopnaraine.
It is time,the minister added,that the people from the coast recognise that they have a great deal to learn from the hinterland.
In her remarks, Minister within the Ministry of Indigenous Peoples’ Affairs, Valerie Garrido-Lowe, expressed similar sentiments to that of Dr. Roopnaraine and is in full suppor of the new administration’s plans to bridge the hinterland-coastland gap. She challenged the graduates to better their communities when they return.
Indigenous peoples will soon benefit from technical and agricultural institutes in Regions 1, 7, 8 and 9, as part of the Government’s agenda. The Ministry of Public Infrastructure will also aid in developing roads in hinterland communities, so that students can move freely while pursuing their academic goals.