Written By HARRY GILL
IN a court of law, previously suppressed evidence may be admitted any time the defendant or defence counsel raises (or merely hints at) an issue relating to that evidence. The court of public opinion is no different. If I had tried to publish this information before now, I’m sure it would have been discarded as old and irrelevant.

Old yes, but certainly not irrelevant, for it forms a part of our history that the young people of Guyana should know, but don’t.
Fortunately, an article “Chat language will get us no jobs” written by my good friend, the Editor-in-Chief of Kaieteur News, Adam Harris, opened the door for me to respond in a way that exposes some of the very ‘suppressed evidence’ he would have previously not printed. Thank you Adam!
In his Sunday column (October 20), Adam Harris described the Guyana education system as “calamitous”. He must be joking! There was a time when the use of this adjective would have been appropriate to describe education in Guyana, this is not it.
The reason why the PNC/APNU is still a major political force is because they have been very successful at suppressing the evidence from our youthful population, of a shameful period in our history under PNC rule. Adam Harris is well familiar with this.
As Editor of the PNC’s New Nation newspapers back then, he would have had knowledge of the decrepit education system that existed in 1991 under the Desmond Hoyte administration but said nothing. Perhaps he could not have said anything without fear of losing his job. But if Adam had the courage to speak out as our democracy now allows him to do, he would have been standing on solid ground.
Very often, someone would say to me: “The young people of today are not interested in the past, Harry, they want to know what the government is doing now.” While this may be so, it would certainly be helpful if our youths know where we came from, and the good financial management of Guyana’s resources that have brought us to where we are today.

A World Bank Report ‘Guyana Public Sector Review’ (http://www-wds.worldbank.org/external/default/WDSContentServer/WDSP/IB1993/10/01/000009265_3970716142538/Rendered/PDF/multi_page.pdf) painted a very dismal picture of the Guyana Education System during the PNC reign, one that David Granger, Carl Greenidge and company should be ashamed of. Here are a few snippets from that report:
“In 1991, Guyana’s Educational System was probably the weakest in the Caribbean. Learning in schools, as measured by national and Caribbean-wide examinations was extremely low. A large proportion of the teaching force was unqualified and untrained. Text books and teaching aids were seldom available.”
The World Bank Report continued: “Although the government has widely acknowledged and stressed the important role of education in Guyana’s economic development, resources allocation to the (education) sector have declined sharply over the past decade. Spending on education accounted for only about 7.4 percent of total recurrent expenditures in 1991, whereas in 1984 they had accounted for 17.6 percent of total recurrent spending… The most notable change has been the sharp decline in spending on teachers’ salaries, both by the Ministry and the Regional Administrations between 1986 and 1991. Over this period, spending on salaries by the Ministry dropped from 62 percent to 25 percent.”
A Headmaster/Mistress maximum salary in 1990 was a mere $733 (US$16.29) per month. In 1992, it was $1,708 (US$13.66). Note: As of mid-1990, the official exchange rate was G$45 per US dollar, but the unofficial rate (at the legal exchange houses) was G$80 for US$1. An important milestone was reached in early 1991 when Guyana adopted a floating exchange, removing the distinction between the official and the market exchange rates. The Guyanese dollar stabilized at US$1=G$125 in June 1991. Today, under the PPP/C government, a Headmaster/Mistress maximum salary is $213, 907 (US$1,069).
The Report confirmed a severe shortage of textbooks during this period.
“Visits to primary schools revealed that students frequently had no access to textbooks… Schools, which generally lack fences and seldom have secured windows or shutters, have become targets of theft. Water facets, furniture and other equipment are routinely stolen… Educational efficiency in Guyana is low, and the range of problems to be addressed is vast. Learning is low, teacher quality poor and resource constraints severe…”
“The percentage of primary students passing the Secondary School Entrance Examination (SSEE) is exceedingly low (Note: This has been replaced by the National Grade Six Examination today); in 1990, only 19 percent passed English, 18 percent (passed) Mathematics, and 19 percent Social Studies…. In 1992, of students writing the CXC examination, only 9 percent passed English, 5 percent Social Studies, and 18 percent Mathematics.”
“The quality of the teaching force in Guyana is extremely low, both at the primary and secondary levels. Data for 1990 show that 38 percent of teachers in primary schools and 42 percent of teachers in secondary schools were either untrained or unqualified. The situation is considerably worse in poorer and rural regions; 78 percent of primary teachers in Regions 8, and 90 percent of secondary teachers in Region 7 are unqualified and untrained.”
The Report now gets more depressing: “Limited capital investment in the (education) sector has meant that very few schools have been constructed during the past two decades. Much of the capital stock (school buildings) is extremely old and dilapidated; Ministry records show that 35 percent of schools in use were constructed before 1920. Facilities built to accommodate 150 students may house as many as 420. A limited survey in the sector in 1991 showed only 10 percent of schools to be in satisfactory condition. Thirty percent need significant repairs and the remaining 60 percent require substantial rehabilitation. Many schools lack doors and windows and have inadequate sanitation facilities without running water.”
I can go on and on, but I’m sure you’ve got the picture.
If parents and teachers still find the need to protest conditions at schools, it must be their will, and not allow themselves to be misguided by politicians in the PNC/APNU with an agenda, and a shameful history of retarding our children’s academic progress.

Editor, when you compare the “calamitous” education system as described above, to the tremendous importance this government has placed on education over the years (The Ministry of Education’s National Budget of $28.7B is the largest of any Ministry of the Government), you must conclude that Adam Harris’ article was both unfair and irresponsible, and cries out for an apology.

Space does not permit me to fully explain the tremendous benefits to students now that Portuguese has been introduced in the school’s curriculum as another foreign language. But with a robust Brazilian economy south of the border, and the sheer number of Brazilians now investing here, job-creation must be high on the list.

Although I share Adam’s concern for the way the younger generation communicate while texting and on social media such as facebook, the Ministry of Education could hardly be blamed for this new phenomenon created with the advent of Information Technology.
I could be wrong, but I believe the shorthand use of abbreviations in use now, is similar to the way a stenographer takes a dictation. The only difference is, more readers can now decipher what’s written. Oddly enough, I often experience much difficulties myself, trying to understand what’s written in the daily Kaieteur News satire, ‘Dem boys seh’.