Our late President Dr Cheddi Jagan, in his New Global Human Order (NGHO) which was presented to the World Summit on Social Development in Copenhagen, Denmark March 6-12, made a passionate plea for the world to address the issue of poverty reduction noting that while there is economic growth there is not corresponding human development, thus he advocated growth but with a human face.
 This is what he told the Summit in his inimitable style:
“The spread of poverty, unchecked across geographical frontiers but particularly so in the poorest countries of the world, the continuous swelling of the ranks of the unemployed and those that are underemployed, even in situations of reasonably sustained economic growth, and the impact of these and other pressures on our societies, as a result of on-going political, economic, ideological, ecological, social and cultural crisis, has led to increasing social tensions, the undermining of traditional values and to the loss of direction.”

“Solutions to these problems cannot be postponed. Continued inaction on the part of political leaders will result only in further disintegration and the eventual collapse of our social systems. We owe it to our peoples as well as to future generations, whose interests we must consider, to devise remedies that would lead to better lives, better societies and a better world. Indeed, this is a time for action–a time for urgent action!”
But being the person he was, all his life-never identifying problems without proposing solutions, he pointed out several measures which could be implemented to fund anti-poverty measures.
He said the UNDP has pointed out repeatedly that if military expenditure in the 1990s is reduced by only 3% per year, this would yield a ‘Peace Dividend’ of US$1.5 trillion. This approach, which was argued against a few years ago by the North in the name of security, is even more practical now, in light of recent world developments. A three-percent cut in global military expenditure can yield US$410 billion in the 1995 – 2000 period.
 In addition, he proposed other measures by which funds could be raised to address poverty including taxes on pollution, energy, movement of speculative foreign currency and payments to poor countries for services among others.
So his call for a New Human Global Order was not an empty one but one that was accompanied by concrete proposals, which were adopted by the UN but unfortunately is yet to be implemented by the international community.
In this context, President Ramotar comments in his address to the National Awards Ceremony for top performers in various examinations were most pertinent.
He said that the most important factor for a country’s development is the quality of life for its resident people. The President noted that the world is changing at a rapid pace, and that the ultimate way to secure a future for the country is through investing in people and investing in education.
He explained that much more is demanded of young people these days, and that is only natural, because science and technology — and education generally — are playing a much more important role in the development of society. He stressed that for a person to be able to cope with the developing world, that person would have to be multi-disciplined.
The President disclosed that Guyana has been the only country in the region that spends 30 percent of its budget on the social sector; and that has been the case since the People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) government assumed office.
He affirmed that the largest social sector spending is in education, and contended that this was not by happenstance, but is government’s response to having recognised the role of education in development, and its firm conviction that the way out of poverty is through education. Of course this approach towards reducing poverty has been universally accepted and Guyana has been actively pursuing this path which has resulted in the significant improvement of delivery of education and greater opportunities to pursue education and training.
 One would be foolhardy say that our education is at the highest and does not need further improvement but one would be equally foolhardy not to concede that there has been significant improvement in our education system, especially when we consider the state of it two decades ago. At that time the education system was characterized by inadequate and run down schools, an acute shortage of teachers and educational equipment and supplies and even worse teachers and students were an appendage of the paramountcy of the party doctrine.
 Surely it is not an accident that we have topped the CSEC examination for the past seven years, but inevitably there are some amongst us who would make such a contention.