PRESIDENT David Granger has assured Berbice rice farmers that their problems have not gone unnoticed; that his government has already started seeking viable solutions where reducing operational costs and creating new market opportunities are concerned.He’s even raised the issue of finding new markets with colleague Heads of Government at both the regional and international levels, and has promised to discuss their plight with Agriculture Minister, Noel Holder.

But by the same token, he feels their best bet is to keep their children in school, as raising the education bar is the only sure way of creating job opportunities and some semblance of stability.
“My biggest concern is the education of young people,” he said. “Too many young people are unemployed. Because of the problem in the education system, many young people leave school; because of their education level, they cannot move forward,” he told residents of Black Bush Polder Sunday during a walkabout in the Ancient County of Berbice, prior to declaring open the first ever New Amsterdam Town Week.
He said he’s already taken the intiative to help the less fortunate children by funding what he proposes calling the President’s 3B Programme, which involves the donation of boats, bicycles and buses, and which he hopes to introduce shortly to all ten administrative regions.
Noting that he hopes that NGOs, the business community and private individuals will come on board the programme with him, President Granger said:
“The important thing is that we want to get every single Guyanese child in school. The idea of school welfare officers picking up children at 9 and 10 o’ clock in the morning because they haven’t gone to school; the idea that children could not go to school because they had nothing to eat; children not going to school because they have no uniform; children not going to school because they have no books; children not going to school because they have no transportation… We have to bring that to an end.”