PPP/C slams PNC’s past hinterland education policies
BOTH PPP/C presidential candidate Donald Ramotar and outgoing President Bharrat Jagdeo condemned the previous administration’s education policy in Amerindian communities when the PPP/C held its rally in Moruca, Region One (Barima-Waini) yesterday morning.
A number of Moruca residents and those from contiguous villages braved the scorching mid-morning sun to hear the plans a Donald Ramotar presidency would implement for the lives of Amerindians and hinterland residents.
The theme of most presentations yesterday focused on education and the possibilities under continued PPP/C rule.
Tapping into his riverine roots, Ramotar disclosed that many of his friends from Caria Caria, Essequibo, never had the opportunity to fulfil their potential because they lacked school facilities under the PNCR administration. He deemed himself fortunate to have had relatives on the coast, with whom he resided together with some of his siblings in order to attain an education.
He said that because of the lack of opportunities in Caria Caria, many of his friends had withered away and had resorted to rum-drinking and destroying themselves, “obviously out of frustration that they didn’t have this opportunity to develop.” He said that only 30 percent of the children in the primary schools could have found a place in the secondary school system at the time. “They were condemning most of our people into a life of poverty and lack of education. They did not care, as long as they stayed in office. We, on the other hand, have been concentrating all of our efforts on spending money on you,” he said.
He added that the PNC spent $1 billion on education the last year that party was in office. “Today, we are spending about $20 billion a year on education, and we are ensuring that you will have equal opportunity as anyone else in our country,” he said. “That is why we have been providing secondary schools in these areas, and providing them with hostels and providing three meals a day.”
“We are still a poor country. We still have many things to do, many things to work for, but we have made the sacrifices in investing in education,” he said. “We have given opportunities to people in the interior to study at the highest institution in our land.”
He said that it was because of the PPP’s attitude to the people of interior communities that he became attracted to the party. “I remember (that), in my early life, the PPP was making attempts to change those conditions,” he said. He recalled the days when the early PPP government made provision for the healing of the sick in the riverine and other far-flung communities.
The PPP presidential candidate said that the PNC government became unaccountable to the people of Guyana and stole their votes. “That is why we had a very serious problem with them, because of how they conducted business in our country,” he said. “They made the Parliament like a rubber stamp…the last four years Dr. [Cheddi] Jagan spent in Parliament (while in opposition) he could not speak…he was banned from speaking. And now, today, they talk all kinds of nonsense,” he said.
“Every time we take a step forward, there are those who are trying to pull us back,” he said.
He told the gathering that some of the people who were discouraging persons from accepting titles from the government for their lands also come from the community of Moruca. “I want to assure you that we have already demonstrated that you can trust us. We have given you the land, and we will do nothing – nothing – to ever deprive you of any of your rights. [You will have] a president who will have running in his veins Amerindian blood,” he said. “I will never ever allow your rights to be restricted, or allow anyone to take away any of your land,” he said.
Speaking at the meeting, President Bharrat Jagdeo said: “It is your courage, your commitment, and your hard work that give us the strength to continue, because the PPP feeds off the strength of its people.
“I want to thank the many comrades who have, from long, long years, struggled to see these changes that we are experiencing in our country today. [They] struggled to bring back freedom to our people, because after colonial rule we lost that freedom for three decades to undemocratic rule by the PNC, and it is here in Moruca, in many other villages similar to this one, and in the city and along the coast that ordinary people followed Cheddi Jagan to bring back freedom and dignity to our land; and without freedom nothing else was possible,” he said.
“I see a lot of young people here, and I hope you take time to learn of that struggle too, because too often the things we experience today we take for granted. But they didn’t just fall from the sky…we had to struggle for them.” He emphasised: “If we don’t appreciate that struggle, we will never really value what we have today.”
“There is something that we have that is worth fighting for, it is worth marching for, it is worth holding rallies for, it is worth turning out to vote on November 28 for: that is the freedom and progress and dignity that has come to all Guyana, but particularly Amerindian people,” he said. “We have to offer young people the infrastructure so that they could get the best quality education in the world,” he said, scoffing at opposition parties’ offering of sports gear to young people in Amerindian communities.
“There is still some way to get where we want to be, but we have come a long way to reduce the gap between what takes place on the coast and what takes place in the hinterland. Thousands of [these children] now are going to secondary schools. Under the PNC, all they had was primary education in regions where Amerindians lived. What that meant is that your children’s future ended when they ended primary school, because they (the PNC) didn’t see Amerindian people as a very important part of this country,” he said.
The President urged the residents of the communities to be wary of the wild promises of the opposition as the countdown to elections on November continues.
Among the speakers at yesterday’s meeting in Moruca were Amerindian Affairs Minister Pauline Sukhai; Presidential Advisor on Governance, Gail Teixeira; Region One Regional Chairman, Fermin Singh; and Moruca Village Toshao Marco De Souza. In attendance were former Minister of Amerindian Affairs Vibert De Souza and Chairperson of the National Toshaos Council, Yvonne Pearson.