Dear Editor,

WE are fortunate in Guyana that the pandemic has not significantly affected the availability of books or printed assignments. Even with a lockdown of schools and cross- border travel, Guyana has been able to overcome most effects of the pandemic. The country has done well in the educational sector.
There was an educational lockdown around the globe for most of the period, from March 2020 to now. I read of several countries experiencing shortage of textbooks, but this is not a major concern in Guyana; materials are available.
The shortage of textbooks and written assignments in other countries is reminiscent of my experience in Guyana during the 1970s and 1980s after ‘the nationalisation of education’. Before the nationalisation of education in 1975, books, paper, printed materials, and writing tools were readily available.

I was a high school student during the 1970s. From 1972 ‘til nationalisation in 1975, and thru the 1980s, text books and work books were not available. Even notebooks and writing or blank printing papers were scarce. In some years, students received exercise books with Burnham’s photo and a message promoting his party. We used to borrow study materials from one another, and split the lines of exercise books to hold double the quantity of notes. Almost every student who I knew around my time in school, especially in the rural areas, had a stressful time acquiring books and studying. Many students were not able to grasp important science and math concepts without books to study, and reinforcement workbooks.
Because of a shortage of books, school syllabus could not be completed to ready students for exams. Students were not adequately prepared to sit GCE O’ Levels or A’ Levels. And they did not perform well as during the pre-nationalisation period. Guyana performed the worst among CARICOM countries post-1976 thru the 1980s. When schooling was de-nationalised post-1992, resulting in the establishment of private schools and tutorials, Guyanese began performing phenomenally well again.

Yours truly,

Vishnu Bisram