Ever since its ascension to office in 1992, the government  recognised the

vital importance of the education system to national development and it being a major tool in poverty reduction. Consequently, over the years it has been placing increasing emphasis on the education sector not only by increasing budgetary allocations, but also by improving the welfare of teachers and intensifying and expanding training programmes etc. And while it must be acknowledged that there are still some deficiencies, challenges and shortcomings it cannot be denied that there has been an overall significant improvement in our education system.
When one considers the tattered state of the education system prior to 1992, the improvement is even more remarkable. Those who were part of the education system prior to 1992 would know of the schools with leaky roofs and the dilapidated state of school buildings; acute shortages of teaching and learning materials; the shortage of qualified teachers and poor salaries and scrapping of the school-feeding programme.
Nursery schools were housed in community centres and other community buildings and serving in the infamous National Service became the main criterion for entry into the University of Guyana and this actually triggered the decline of the once prestigious tertiary institution.
They would also know of the severe disruption of classes when teachers and students were forced to attend PNC-sponsored events to make up numbers and the compulsory participation at the North Korean-style mass games when the government was experimenting with Kim Il Sung’s Juche Idea. All these happened under the infamous doctrine of paramountcy of the party.
Concomitantly, with the sharp decline of the economy, budgetary allocations for the education sector plummeted sharply. As a result  by the late 1980s the education system  was in a virtual state of collapse. One former Education Minister, under the PNC government, even admitted publicly that most of the children leaving school were functional illiterates.
So from 1964 when we were the most literate among the English-speaking Caribbean countries, thanks to the revolutionary changes to the education system under the 1957-1964 PPP governments, we moved to the most illiterate by the late 1980s. As such, when this government came into office in 1992 it had an herculean task to overhaul the education system. But with astute and prudent management the education system has been restored to a decent and respectable level.
In this year’s budget, the sum of $28 billion has been allocated to the education sector, which represents the largest slice of allocations, demonstrating once again the government’s continued commitment to the improvement of education standards.
In fact, it was a pleasant and welcome surprise to see during the current budget debate in the National Assembly, APNU’s education spokesperson, Ms. Amna Ally, giving praise to Education Minister Ms. Priya Manickchand for improvements in the education sector, saying she believes in “giving credit where credit is due.” It would be wonderful if such magnanimous gestures from our opposition parliamentarians could become  the norm rather than the exception, because the opposition gives one the impression that as they understand it their role is only to criticise and find faults and not to give credit when it is due.
Nevertheless, if Ms. Ally’s fine gesture is emulated by other opposition parliamentarians then deliberations in the National Assembly could become more meaningful and constructive and this of course would be more in accordance with furthering our national interests.