Guyana has once again been given the regional spotlight with Guyanese students topping at both the CSEC and the CAPE examinations this year.
According to a release by the Ministry of Education, the top spot for the CAPE examination is awarded to Atisha Seenarine of the Sarswati Vidya Niketan School and the Most Outstanding Overall student is Outnam Herall of the Anna Regina Secondary School. In addition, Guyanese students topped in a number of regional subject awards.

This is indeed good news, as the country now basks in the glory of rapid and unprecedented levels of transformation and modernisation. In all of this, the human factor cannot be ignored. Indeed, human resource development is a critical ingredient in any modernisation process, as the experiences of several countries have demonstrated.

This year’s performance by our Guyanese students is indicative of an education attainment curve that is picking up momentum in the country, thanks to the emphasis placed in the education sector by the PPP/C administration.

The fact that there is now an emerging pattern of excellence among Guyanese students at local and regional examinations is indeed refreshing, especially when seen against the relatively poor performance of our students under the previous PNC regime, when Guyana was ranked among the worst performing country in the entire region.

It was not until the return of the PPP/C to office on October 1992 that the shameful situation was arrested and reversed, reaching today to a point where Guyanese students are consistently outshining their regional counterparts in several subject areas, and copping the overall top performances.

This is not to suggest that there are not challenges to higher attainment levels, especially in the two critical subject areas of Language Arts and Mathematics. And while there have been steady improvements in terms of overall pass rates, there are still a significant number of students who fail to obtain acceptable grades, a situation not uncommon to all participating countries.
Much of the credit for the significant improvement in education delivery is attributable to the several policy interventions by the PPP/C administration, such as the Primary Education Improvement Project and the Secondary School Reform Project, which along with an intensification of teacher training have contributed to greater student attainment levels.

But at a more fundamental level, it has resulted in a democratisation of education delivery to all regions of the country. It is no exaggeration to state that the gap in the quality of education delivery between rural and urban areas is being consistently narrowed. The fact that the Anna Regina Multilateral School has, on multiple occasions, emerged as one of the top performers not only in Guyana but the entire region is indicative of this fact.

Guyana is well poised to become the regional centre for academic excellence, especially in terms of tertiary education both at the academic and technical levels. Thousands of students including those from overseas, are now taking advantage of educational opportunities offered by the University of Guyana and other private tertiary institutions. Under the GOAL programme, several thousands from all walks of life are gaining access to tertiary education in a variety of skill areas, not otherwise possible for some.

These are indeed laudable initiatives, exactly what the country needs at this stage of its development. In this regard, the PPP/C administration must be commended for making education a top national priority. The education sector is allocated the highest slice of the national budget and from all indications it is paying handsome dividends.