Government has always placed major emphasis on the education sector, making it a priority to ensure that sufficient funds are allocated annually to further upgrade and enhance the quality of education being administered to students. In 2009, approximately $20.4B was allocated through the National Budget to the Ministry of Education to support its Education Strategic Plan (ESP) which identifies as priorities the provision of quality education, universal secondary education, technical and vocational education, inclusive education, school health and nutrition, teacher education and the development of managerial capacity within the sector.
Minister of Finance, Dr. Ashni Singh during his presentation of the 2010 National Budget at Parliament Building today stated that the implementation of the ESP will continue to be of priority in 2010 which will reflect the Education Ministry’s continuous efforts to transform the education sector to eliminate illiteracy, modernise education and strengthen tolerance, and in this regard, $21.4B has been allocated for the sector this year.
Dr. Singh posited that approximately $800M has been budgeted for Government’s national school feeding programme which targets over 47,000 students in nursery and primary levels. This is expected to bring about increased attendance and retention while improving the nutritional balance of children.
He said that $940M has been allocated for the continued expansion of technical vocational training with the funds being utilised in the construction, rehabilitation and maintenance of facilities and the procurement of tools and equipment for all technical institutes. In addition, 12 more secondary schools are scheduled to conduct the Secondary School Competency Programme.
This programme is a technical and vocational initiative that offers an alternative pathway for secondary students. It is a corrective programme, implemented to address students’ weaknesses in literacy and numeracy, especially those leaving primary schools.
Currently the programme is implemented in Grade 10 to equip students who drop out before completion of the secondary cycle with a certificate that will make them employable.
The Finance Minister further stated that over $880M is allocated for teacher training and development which will continue to upgrade teachers and the revision and production of materials needed to promote a comprehensive training and development programme.
In keeping with Government’s continued emphasis on Information and Communications Technology (ICT), Government remains committed to providing and mobilising resources for its integration into teaching and learning in schools. There will be the continuation of the programme to establish information technology laboratories in all secondary schools. More than 2,000 teachers are to be trained in it area of ICT, in an effort to achieve the ESP’s objective of 75% trained ICT teachers in secondary schools and 50% in primary schools by 2013.
Minister Singh added that $2.4B has been budgeted for the construction, maintenance and rehabilitation of dormitories, educational facilities, nursery, primary and secondary schools nationwide, while over $700M has been allocated to the University of Guyana, comprising $657M for recurrent expenditure on the operations and maintenance of the two campuses, and $48M on capital expenditure to enable the completion of works on the office building at Tain, upgrading of plumbing and electrical facilities, procurement of science laboratory equipment, library books and furnishings.
Minister Singh stated that in addition to the 2010 budgetary allocation for the education sector, approximately $450M has been provided for student loans.(GINA)