HEAD of the Presidential Secretariat, Dr Roger Luncheon yesterday reported that Cabinet has recently signalled its ‘green light’ to a contract worth $48.4M for the procurement of exercise books for students.

Speaking at his weekly post-Cabinet press conference at the Office of the President, in Georgetown, Dr. Luncheon who is also Secretary to the Cabinet informed that the books will be for national distribution.
Meanwhile, other provisions made by the government to ensure every school-aged child gets an education are the school-feeding and uniform assistance programmes and the provision of textbooks.
Meanwhile, just recently Minister within the Ministry of Finance Juan Edghill said that the education sector has received the largest chunk of the 2013 national budget, and that government is working towards achieving universal secondary education.
During an outreach in Region 1 (Barima/Waini), Edghill said this budgetary provision would help to empower students to access the education they deserve and at the same time, they would be able to pursue higher education.
Guyana has already achieved universal primary education, he pointed out, and while a secondary school cannot be built in every community, investments have been made to build schools outfitted with dorms and teachers quarters and modern learning facilities.
In other instances, students can travel to school and return home the same day through the provision of transportation.
According to Edghill, one good example of a new school being built in the hinterland is the $728M secondary school that is being constructed in Kato, Region 8.
Edghill pointed out that apart from the investments in infrastructure, government is keen on ensuring that teachers receive the best training because the wider their skill-set, the more students will learn.
“We are adding to this dimension of training by the establishment of the Learning Channel and it is coming as part of a menu of measures to improve the quality and access to education and knowledge. Importantly, this takes the people out of the darkness and brings them to a point of enlightenment by increasing their knowledge,” he said.