Educating a nation’s children is one of the best gifts a government could give to its people. Although priority needs may differ, education stands aloft as without an educated people, there could be no development. It is therefore incumbent on governments to provide the prerequisites in order for their nation’s children to become involved in their country’s development process.
Guyana is no exception to this, and the government has been taking measure after measure in attempts to provide the best possible education to the nation’s children. This is an absolute necessity and calls for the active support of parents in particular, who must be willing to make the deep sacrifices. These are important sacrifices if we want our children to become assets in tomorrow’s world-a world that is rife with excesses and abuse that could bring destruction to the unsuspecting prey.
But as much as parents are important, teachers are equally vital as we know that a school is a home away from home and teachers are parents away from home. Therefore in order for us to talk about educating our children, we must recognise the nexus among school, child, teacher and parent. We could strive for the best possible result if we recognise this link.
In this regard, we must appreciate the fact that the government and the Education Ministry by extension, have gone the extra mile in providing safe and comfortable accommodation for the delivery of unhindered education to the nation’s children. But as much as all this has been happening, there are still scores of delinquent school children, who for various reasons absent themselves from school. The Minister of Education has taken this very seriously and has some years ago embarked on a truancy campaign which netted hundreds of offenders.
But these campaigns over the years which were held at random, although breaking some ground, were not entirely successful. This has prompted newly appointed Minister of Education, Priya Manickchand, to announce that while major truancy campaigns will continue, education officials both centrally and regionally would be on a truancy watch daily. This is an excellent pronouncement that could have come only from a person who is mindful of our children’s education.
We are aware of the fact that over the years, at least in the last five years, the Ministry of Education has spent billions of dollars in the country so that the nation’s children could derive maximum benefits from our education system. It might be useful here to point out the Mission Statement of the Ministry of Education which is: “To provide equal access to all Guyanese children and young people to equal education.”  
In this regard, several of the 1,273 schools which include 386 at the nursery, 426 at the primary level and 426 at the secondary level throughout the country have been refurbished, while many state-of-the-art schools have been built to cater for the growing needs of the school population. In addition, there are 12 vocational training schools throughout the country.
But these structures need adequate staffing which is being provided  with trained teachers from the Cyril Potter College of Education which has its main campus at Turkeyen, and centres in New Amsterdam, Linden, Rose Hall, Anna Regina and Vreed-en-Hoop that provide two to three-year programmes for nursery, primary and secondary school teachers.
Also, free uniforms are being provided to school children under a government School Uniform Distribution Programme which cost the government some $300M last year, while in some areas meals are being provided to children under the school-feeding programme.
These are prerequisites that cost fat sums, and would only be a waste of time if the benches in the schools are empty. The minister’s call for truancy watch on a daily basis must be seen therefore in the light of government’s endeavour to produce a nation of able-bodied and literate children. This of course will not happen overnight, but in time as long as a concerted effort is made by all.