There is a saying to the effect that one cannot be educated and poor at the same time. There is a whole lot of truth in this saying. Experience has shown that millions of people have been lifted above the poverty threshold due to greater access to quality education, defined here to mean one that provides opportunities for individuals to lead productive and constructive lives. In other words, education must be relevant to the needs of both society and individual, and provide that opportunity for the individual to realize his or her potential to the fullest extent possible.
Consistent with this thinking, the current PPP/C administration has been putting much emphasis on education which has been declared a national priority. This emphasis on education is in line with the administration’s approach to development which sees development as essentially human development. This has found expression in the huge sums of money set aside in the national budget for education and health. Much emphasis is being put on hinterland education aimed at bridging the achievement gap between hinterland and coastland students.
It is no secret that under the colonial administration, hinterland education was grossly neglected, a situation which persisted under the PNC administration. It was not until the PPP/C government was returned to office on October 1992 that efforts to improve accessibility to quality education for hinterland students began in earnest. The promise of a brighter day for our Amerindians, once a distant dream, has now become a living reality.
Our Amerindian students are catching up nicely in terms of education achievement. Today Amerindian students can be found in increasing numbers at all leading educational institutions, including the Cyril Potter College of Education, the University of Guyana and other training institutions such as the Nursing Schools, the Guyana School of Agriculture and Government Technical Institute. To make their stay away from home as comfortable as possible and to preserve their cultural norms and values, the Government has recently commissioned a new dormitory facility for Amerindian children attending schools in Georgetown.
The delivery of education in Guyana is today much more equitable and corresponds with the declared policy of the present administration to empower the Amerindian people and mainstream them in the national development process. Amerindians are today taking charge of their own development by assuming important positions which in the past were held by coastlanders. These include headteachers, nurses, doctors, agriculture extension officers among others. In this regard, the recent harvesting of rice in Region Nine is significant and a clear indication of the economic potential of the hinterland regions to diversify their agriculture base from one of subsistence farming to that of large scale production. This, when fully operationalized, could have a transformative effect on the local economies in terms of job creation and allowing for greater cash flow into the economy.
Much progress has been made by this administration in terms of linking various hinterland regions by way of a road network. Thanks to the road link between regions Eight and Nine, it is now possible for farmers to bring their produce to much larger markets in Lethem and even further afield, in Linden and Georgetown. In this regard, the recent trail linking the North and South Pakaraimas is of particular significance.
The democratization of education delivery in hinterland communities has put added pressure on the education system to, as it were, deliver the goods. There is hardly any justification for hinterland and rural schools to lag behind in terms of educational achievements, especially given the fact that there is a much more equitable distribution of resources, including learning resources and trained teaching personnel. Schools must be held accountable for their performance. The President Obama administration recently took a decision to fire teachers who consistently fail to deliver. Concerned about falling standards in education, he also announced the lengthening of teaching hours to bring them in line with other countries. Research has shown that despite significantly higher per capita spending in education, the student achievement in the critical areas of mathematics and science lag behind other countries, including China and India.
The point I am seeking to make is that there is need for greater accountability by schools in terms of student performance at national and regional examinations, especially in the context of greater infusion of teaching/learning resources in the school system. Low performing schools must be required to explain their performance and measures must be instituted to transform these schools to do better in terms of student performance. It cannot be business as usual when schools for whatever reason fail on a consistent basis to measure up to attainment norms.
This is a bit of a diversion, but was done with the explicit intention to draw attention to the fact that quite a number of hinterland schools are today putting out students who are now fully matriculated to pursue higher education at the University of Guyana and other tertiary institutions. This is most encouraging and is the most effective mechanism for ensuring the empowerment of hinterland communities through education.