It is now universally accepted that education is key to the socio-economic transformation of society and a major tool in the fight against poverty therefore greater attention and resources for the education sector are an imperative in order to improve education delivery and standards.
This is exactly what this government has been doing since assuming office in 1992 and it has paid dividends as we have been experiencing improving performances by students and at all levels.
In fact, the earlier PPP government during 1957-1964 paid heavy attention to education resulting in Guyana having the highest literacy rate in the Caribbean during that period. It during that time rural scores of secondary and primary schools were built across the country, in-service teachers training centres were established in several communities, the University of Guyana was established (which incidentally was dubbed Jagan’s night school by the opposition). Consequently, thousands who could not access secondary education because it could been only obtained at private schools in Georgetown which unaffordable for the poor, were able do so free of cost.
Unfortunately, when the PPP was removed from office in 1964, the succeeding government reversed the gains made in the education sector because of almost total neglect. As a result school buildings were in  a dilapidated state, there was an acute shortage of teachers and school supplies, nursery schools were housed in community centres and apart from a few schools which were built under foreign funded programmes hardly any news schools were built which resulted in serious overcrowding and trying conditions for teachers; in 1977 one fourth form at Patentia Secondary had 90 students and almost half the students had to stand up during classes for a long period of time.
As if this was enough of burden the government under its doctrine of paramountcy of the party forcefully used teachers and students to build crowd for it many rallies and ceremonies which were hardly attended by adults as it was very unpopular. In addition, the government having embraced the North Korean style socialism introduced Mass Games which saw substantial classroom time being lost as students were involved in training for this new venture.
Sympathisers and supporters of that government would argue that the government provided free education from nursery to university. However, this was a “free” education without any quality or standard because there was an acute shortage of textbooks and learning materials as well as all the ills stated above. With respect to the university entry requirements were lowered and one had to serve in the Guyana National Service before he/she could obtain a certificate, while employees who were critical of the government were witch-hunted. Those who choose to remember will recall Professor Mohamed Insanally tearing up his academic certificate in protest against the political interference at the university and how the late Professor Bill Carr was brutally beaten political thugs, losing an eye as a result. Of course the attempted assassination of Professor Joshua Ramsammy and the assassination of Dr. Walter Rodney who was refused employment at the university will never be erased from the dirty past. Yet one columnist (more appropriately a comedian) paints a rosy picture of Burnham and his government and foolishly claims that the previous government is like an angel compared to the present one.
The end result was that in tandem with the decline of the national economy there was a nose dive in education delivery and standards at all levels of the education system. A former Education Minister of that government publicly stated the education system was producing “functional illiterates.”
So when this government took office it was indeed an uphill task to take the education system out of the abyss which it found itself. But with grit, determination, vision and increased financial allocations for the education there has been a marked improvement which is evidenced by increasingly better examination results almost every year in recent times.
The recent CSEC results once again shows this positive trend with overall passes (Grade I-III) increasing from 50% to 59%  Grade I-IV increasing from 79% to 86%.
We are certainly not there as yet, but certainly we are getting there and thanks to the emphasis and special attention the education sector has been receiving from the government.