While it is true that we have not brought the standard of delivery of education to the desired level, undoubtedly under the present government significant strides have been made in the education sector and it was most unfortunate and unfair for an opposition parliamentarian to charge that the Ministry of Education lacks vision and focus because the facts and realities definitely indicate the contrary.

That parliamentarian should remember that when her party was in government the education sector declined to its lowest ebb despite having inherited a solid and sound education system from a previous People’s Progressive Party government which saw Guyana having the highest literacy rate in the English-speaking caribbean at that time.

This was a result of the establishment of a network of primary and secondary schools in the rural communities giving thousands of children from poor homes access to education. It was under that government too that the University of Guyana was established but was dubbed “Jagan’s night school” by that parliamentarian’s party then in opposition.

She should recall too that it was under her party, government schools went into disrepair, there was severe shortages of textbooks and other teaching materials, few new schools were built and even those were allowed to deteriorate into a deplorable state, in-service rural teachers training centres were scrapped, classroom teaching was frequently disrupted because teachers and students were used to build crowds at PNC events; and the introduction of Mass Games in schools further disrupted classrooms depriving children and teachers of valuable instructional time, salaries of teachers were very low, private schools were scrapped, there was a massive exodus of teachers and the tertiary institutions, in particular standards at the University of Guyana plunged to its lowest levels. In short the education system was brought to its knees.

As such the present government inherited an education system that was in a virtual state of collapse and through herculean efforts and vision under difficult conditions it was overhauled and over the years we witnessed unprecedented improvements both in infrastructure and the quality of education delivery.

This dramatic turn around of the education sector came about exactly because of visionary education policy and tremendous focus and emphasis of education. And our examination results in recent years bear testimony to this.

Education Minister Shaik Baksh in responding to the parliamentarian was up to the challenge and refuted her with indisputable facts and figures.
“We have very comprehensive innovative and strategic interventions for the improvement of the education sector; for example we want, in terms of CSEC subjects Grades 1 to 3 passes, we want to move from 56% to 70%. We have targets for Mathematics and English; for English we want to move from 40% to 50% and I must say that already in 2009 we have achieved 52% passes in English,” Minister Baksh argued.

He also disclosed that Guyana’s overall performance with respect to passes in five subjects and more, inclusive of Mathematics and English, as compared to other Caribbean countries, such as Jamaica with 19%, Barbados with 11%, Trinidad and Tobago with 27% and Guyana with 21% (in 2009). He noted that such performances can provide entry into universities, access to jobs and other opportunities.

He pointed out too that with respect to five and more subject passes, Guyana secured 33.9%, while Jamaica secured 24.7%, Barbados 13.2% and Trinidad and Tobago16.7%. The Minister contended that these statistics prove that secondary level education is improving.

“The highest number of candidates, showing the expanding access to secondary education in 2009, was 10,200. This is three times the number of candidates who sat CSEC under the PNC regime, with 3,800 in 1990,

Baksh contended that the presence of an Education Strategic Plan which outlines the goals of the Ministry for a five-year period certainly gives it a vision, adding that it is revised every five to six years.

It is also no secret that this government has built or refurbished hundreds of schools across this country in urban rural and hinterland communities.

As regards teachers training on an average 500 trained teachers graduate every year which is more than at any time in our history and the in-service training centres in the rural and hinterland communities have been reopened. In addition, hinterland training of teachers is being boosted through distance education-another first for this country.

And teacher training will be further boosted through a US$3M World Bank package for the Cyril Potter College of Education.

In this year’s budget great emphasis continues to be placed on education as this government has been doing since its assumption to office and in this regard there will be greater focus on technical and vocation education with $940M allocated for Technical Vocational Education and Training and two technical institutes will be built at Park,

Mahaicony, and Leonora.

The minister noted that as a means of preparing students for the world of work and providing an alternative pathway, a certificate in Vocational and Skills Training will be issued at Grade 9. This will allow those who may drop out of school to have a certificate to acquire a job.

So from all the available evidence the education sector is on the move. Of course the water is not smooth in every part, challenges and difficulties are inevitable but that is what the process of development is all about and the government, through the Ministry of Education, has undoubtedly risen to these challenges and demonstrated its unswerving commitment to raise the standard of education delivery to optimum levels and make it accessible to all.