THE month of September is significant for two main reasons. It is the month in which Guyanese celebrate Amerindian Heritage and it is also designated ‘Education Month’.
The theme for this year’s Amerindian Heritage Month is, “Sustaining our Cultural Heritage and Identity while Contributing to One Guyana.” Education Month 2023 has as its theme, “Investing in People: Changing Lives.”
Both themes are mutually reinforcing and have in common the broad objective of enhancing the quality of life of the Guyanese people through education and culture.
The importance of education in terms of cultural advancement and sustainable development cannot be over-emphasised. Indeed, there exists a dialectical relationship between education and development both at the economic and cultural levels.
Education plays a key and critical role in the fostering of important social norms and values especially in the context of the One Guyana vision, as articulated by President Dr. Mohamed Irfaan Ali.
The fact is that Amerindian development has now become an integral part of the overall national development process. Gone are the days when our Amerindian communities were neglected and treated as the country’s ‘backyard’, both under the colonial administration and the previous PNC regime. As pointed out by President Ali, under the previous administration, there was hardly any progress in all areas of hinterland development including land-titling which was meant to provide legal ownership of land to indigenous communities.
The Low Carbon Development Strategy (LCDS) initiated by the PPP/C administration was shelved by the previous administration, despite the manifest benefits that could have accrued therefrom, including carbon credit payments, job creation and deforestation. Thankfully, under the current PPP/C administration, the country has already commenced the disbursement of such payments of which 15% will be directly allocated to Amerindian communities. And it was under the previous APNU+AFC administration that hundreds of Community Support Officers (CSOs) were relieved abruptly and vindictively of their jobs.
Under the current administration, the focus once again is on the enhancement of the quality of life of the Amerindian people through an interlocking and multidimensional approach which include education and health care delivery, job-creation, environmental protection, good governance and the building of sustainable communities.
At an even more fundamental level, the dignity of the Amerindian people is being upheld and respected. This assurance was given by President Ali during his recent address to Amerindian leaders at the National Toshaos Conference. According to President Ali, Amerindians must be treated with equal respect, dignity and honour. Amerindians all across Guyana, he said, must benefit from equal developmental opportunities like any other segment of the population.
These are indeed the hallmarks of a caring administration as manifested in all successive PPP/C administrations which never faltered in its commitment to a better quality of life for Amerindians, ‘not just because we want to, but because you are no different’ in the words of President Ali.
There is no doubt that Amerindian and hinterland development has been greatly accelerated under the current PPP/C administration. The developmental train has reached all corners of the country including the deep riverine and hinterland communities.
All of this is by no means accidental but the result of a carefully crafted plan. In the words of President Ali, ‘our plan is a simple plan. It is a plan that seeks to involve you in determining what is best for you and in charting a course that will deliver the best quality of life for you.’