Opposition Leader David Granger squandered an opportunity to

demonstrate statesmanship and behave within the norms of protocol when he was invited to deliver the charge to CPCE graduates recently.
He used the opportunity to unleash a tirade against the education system as if he is on the political campaign trail.
One would have expected Mr. Granger to do what any other decent, patriotic person would have done and what is usually expected of a person delivering a charge at these types of functions and use the occasion to urge and inspire the new teachers to reach for new heights and deliver their curriculum and perform in a manner that would be best for our students to help move Guyana forward.
Contrary to that expectation, Mr. Granger shamelessly used the opportunity for partisan politics which was totally out of taste.
This shameless behaviour will go almost unnoticed, but if a member of the ruling party or the government had behaved in such a manner there would have been a huge hue and cry.
But Granger’s castigation of our education system is far from reality and is also a crude attempt at distorting the truth. In this regard, he is using selective memory or urgently needs medical attention for treatment of acute amnesia.
In a 1991 World Bank report, the following facts were presented about the education system under the watch of Mr. Granger’s party, “the education system is facing serious difficulties. There is a shortage of trained and dedicated teachers brought about mainly by low pay scales. A large proportion of the substitute and temporary teachers are under-qualified. Physical facilities require significant rehabilitation, maintenance and repair. Teaching aids and reference materials are lacking and textbooks are insufficient or antiquated at all levels. The result is that the proficiency levels in primary schools are very low with the detriment that this is contributing to insufficient levels of preparation for secondary and tertiary levels. Compounding the situation is an ineffective organisation at the regional level which has failed to seek improvements in rural education and has let the facilities deteriorate. The key constraint to better education has been inadequate funding…..”
Granger seems to be unaware of this and also has forgotten that his party, under the paramountcy doctrine, made the education system a political appendage whereby students and teachers were coerced into attending PNC-sponsored events to help make up numbers. If teachers did not attend these events when requested, they had to give satisfactory reasons or pay the price.
He also seems to have forgotten that Guyana had the highest literacy rate in the English–speaking Caribbean when the PNC/UF coalition came into government after the PPP government was undermined and politically engineered from office in 1964, and all the improvements were literally destroyed by the 1980s.
Granger conveniently ignores the fact that there could be no classes at some schools when it rained because of the dilapidated condition of their buildings and many teachers had to resort to trading and other means of supplementing their meagre incomes to survive under the PNC government.
However, one would be naïve to deny that our education system needs further improvement, but like Granger, one would be equally naïve not to recognise and acknowledge the tremendous strides that have been made.
Under this government we have achieved universal primary education and soon we would have universal secondary school education. Teachers’ salaries and benefits have significantly increased with certain categories benefiting from access to duty-free vehicles. A countless number of new schools have been built or repaired in every administrative region.
Evidence of government’s dedication to improving the sector can be garnered from financing in our yearly budgets with 13.7% of the total budget and 4.6% of our whole GDP being dedicated to the sector in 2012.
This is similar to previous years under the PPP/C administration. When this is compared to 1.6% of the budget and 1.1% of GDP expended during the tenure of the last year of Mr. Granger’s party in office, one can truly question the sincerity of Mr. Granger’s expressed interest.
The percentage of trained teachers has climbed from about 45% under the tenure of Mr. Granger’s party to over 70% now.
Unfortunately, the political opposition in Guyana has a misguided idea that their job is to oppose and criticise even when the situation does not warrant this; consequently, they behave like the proverbial ostrich burying their heads in the sand and deny the truth and reality.
But they should be aware that history will not treat them kindly for such destructive behaviour.