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The latest annual UNDP Human Development Index showed Guyana advancing in terms of human development. According to the report, the country has made significant strides in the area of human development, more particularly in the social sectors namely education, health, housing and water. The progress made in the social sectors by the current PPP/C administration is not accidental, but resulted from a deliberate set of policy interventions aimed at upgrading the quality of life of the Guyanese people following nearly two decades of retrogression resulting from authoritarian and minority rule which ended in October 1992. The new PPP/C administration, from the very inception, vowed to rebuild the country, a herculean task given the run-down state of the economy and a depleted treasury. One of the first tasks of the new administration was to re-direct resources to the social sectors, in particular education, health, housing and water. Under the previous administration, spending was heavily skewed in favour of the military/para-military, the foreign service and the office of the president.
Under the theme ‘development with a human face’, the new PPP/C administration started a massive programme of infrastructural development which saw the construction of new schools and the rehabilitation and expansion of countless others. Major emphasis was placed in the hinterland communities, where there were large gaps in terms of access to education, in particular secondary education. In the entire Region 9 there was just one secondary school, in the Lethem area, which was inadequate to meet the need for secondary education for the vast majority of hinterland students. The same situation prevailed in other hinterland regions, such as Regions 1 and 8, the latter having just one community high school for the entire region!
Not only did the new administration put emphasis on the physical infrastructure, but huge sums of money were directed to teacher education and the procurement of books and learning materials. Several teacher training institutions were established in regions where none existed before, such as Regions 2, 6, and 10. Under the Distance Education Programme, hundreds of hinterland teachers were trained which impacted positively on the provision of quality education to these communities. The twin objectives of greater accessibility and quality education have been largely met and the education gap between hinterland and coastland schools have been significantly narrowed.
One indication of this development is a much better spread of examination results throughout the country, both at the CXC and the Secondary School Entrance Examination. There was a time when the top students only came from a limited number of Georgetown schools, such as Queen’s College and Bishops’ High in the case of secondary education, and St. Margaret’s and St. Agnes in the case of primary schools. Today, this has changed, and some coastal and hinterland schools are now stealing the limelight from the more recognized schools. For example, the best CXC student at the last sitting came from a school in Essequibo, Abrams Zuil Secondary School, which, until recently, was a junior secondary school. Congratulations are in order for the head teacher and staff of that school for such a magnificent achievement, but more directly to the student, Ms. Hack, who not only topped the country, but the entire Caribbean at the last sitting of the CXC.
In fact, since the assumption to office of this current PPP/C administration, the country has secured the top spots in the Caribbean multiple times, a testimony of the government’s commitment to quality education. It should be mentioned also, that the top student at the National Grade Six Assessment Examination, two years ago, came from Regma Primary School, Linden, which again is indicative of a better spread of quality education to regions across Guyana.
The UNDP Report also took note of the significant strides made in the field of health, as reflected in an increase in the longevity rate of the Guyanese people which increased by some eleven years since the 1980s. Guyanese today are not only doing better at school, but are living longer and healthier lives.
There can be no doubt that the country has come a long way since the dark days of undemocratic and authoritarian rule. More remains to be done, but we can take comfort in the fact that the country has recovered from the cycle of retrogression which characterized the greater part of the immediate pre-PPP/C administration. It is true that the country still ranks relatively low on the UNDP Human Development Index, but this resulted largely from the mismanagement of the economy by the former PNC administration. The current administration deserves much credit for not only arresting the economic decline, but for reversing that decline into a situation where Guyana is no longer regarded as a Low Income Country, but as a Middle Income Country. Guyana, it will be recalled, was at one time considered to be one of the poorest countries in the western hemisphere, second only to Haiti. That stigma today has been largely erased, as the country continues to advance along the road to progress and prosperity.
Under the theme ‘development with a human face’, the new PPP/C administration started a massive programme of infrastructural development which saw the construction of new schools and the rehabilitation and expansion of countless others. Major emphasis was placed in the hinterland communities, where there were large gaps in terms of access to education, in particular secondary education. In the entire Region 9 there was just one secondary school, in the Lethem area, which was inadequate to meet the need for secondary education for the vast majority of hinterland students. The same situation prevailed in other hinterland regions, such as Regions 1 and 8, the latter having just one community high school for the entire region!
Not only did the new administration put emphasis on the physical infrastructure, but huge sums of money were directed to teacher education and the procurement of books and learning materials. Several teacher training institutions were established in regions where none existed before, such as Regions 2, 6, and 10. Under the Distance Education Programme, hundreds of hinterland teachers were trained which impacted positively on the provision of quality education to these communities. The twin objectives of greater accessibility and quality education have been largely met and the education gap between hinterland and coastland schools have been significantly narrowed.
One indication of this development is a much better spread of examination results throughout the country, both at the CXC and the Secondary School Entrance Examination. There was a time when the top students only came from a limited number of Georgetown schools, such as Queen’s College and Bishops’ High in the case of secondary education, and St. Margaret’s and St. Agnes in the case of primary schools. Today, this has changed, and some coastal and hinterland schools are now stealing the limelight from the more recognized schools. For example, the best CXC student at the last sitting came from a school in Essequibo, Abrams Zuil Secondary School, which, until recently, was a junior secondary school. Congratulations are in order for the head teacher and staff of that school for such a magnificent achievement, but more directly to the student, Ms. Hack, who not only topped the country, but the entire Caribbean at the last sitting of the CXC.
In fact, since the assumption to office of this current PPP/C administration, the country has secured the top spots in the Caribbean multiple times, a testimony of the government’s commitment to quality education. It should be mentioned also, that the top student at the National Grade Six Assessment Examination, two years ago, came from Regma Primary School, Linden, which again is indicative of a better spread of quality education to regions across Guyana.
The UNDP Report also took note of the significant strides made in the field of health, as reflected in an increase in the longevity rate of the Guyanese people which increased by some eleven years since the 1980s. Guyanese today are not only doing better at school, but are living longer and healthier lives.
There can be no doubt that the country has come a long way since the dark days of undemocratic and authoritarian rule. More remains to be done, but we can take comfort in the fact that the country has recovered from the cycle of retrogression which characterized the greater part of the immediate pre-PPP/C administration. It is true that the country still ranks relatively low on the UNDP Human Development Index, but this resulted largely from the mismanagement of the economy by the former PNC administration. The current administration deserves much credit for not only arresting the economic decline, but for reversing that decline into a situation where Guyana is no longer regarded as a Low Income Country, but as a Middle Income Country. Guyana, it will be recalled, was at one time considered to be one of the poorest countries in the western hemisphere, second only to Haiti. That stigma today has been largely erased, as the country continues to advance along the road to progress and prosperity.
