Dr. Leslie Ramsammy

Dr. Cheddi Jagan had the vision to establish secondary schools around the country, to start a movement for universal access from primary to secondary education.

Bharat Jagdeo almost finished the job, but also switched the goalpost from nursery to secondary; now President Irfaan Ali is ensuring that tertiary and technical education are universal for Guyanese children and young adults.

There can be no dispute that the PPP has always been in the forefront of the education revolution in our country. Budget 2024 reinforces this fact.

Budget 2024 includes more than $135B for education, an increase of more than 61 per cent over the allocation from Budget 2023 and a dramatic 111 per cent over Budget 2022.

In fact, Budget 2024 education allocation is 443 times bigger than the education allocation in 1990, 100 times bigger than 1992, the last PNC budget before Cheddi Jagan was sworn in as President. After five PNC/APNU/AFC budgets, their Budget 2019 was a mere 1.68 of the PPP’s last budget in 2014 before David Granger was sworn in as President.

After five budgets since President Ali was sworn in, Budget 2024 was almost three times the education budget of 2019.

There can be no dispute that successive PPP governments after 1992 made larger allocations for education than the PNC-led governments. The PPP historically has shown greater commitment to education than the PNC.

Yet, the Leader of the Opposition sees a dwindling budget when he compared Budget 2023 to Budget 2022. I am eagerly awaiting the budget debate to hear what the opposition leader would say about Budget 2024 education allocation. Aubrey Norton’s puzzling analysis concluding that the PPP government is not allocating as much as his party did for education is simply unfathomable.

As far as Khemraj Ramjattan from the AFC is concerned, we will deal with his demand that subsidies allocated for GuySuCo should be given to the University of Guyana at another time; except to say that the PPP will never cripple the economies in the sugar estate communities to impoverish thousands of families as APNU+AFC did between 2015 and 2020.

The Leader of the Opposition and his opposition colleagues, most particularly those in the PNC and the AFC, appeared to have made up their minds that in the absence of the capacity to challenge Budget 2024 on substance, the best strategy is to lie. They not merely misrepresent the facts; they simply, shamelessly fabricate lies.

Take the latest allegation from the Leader of the Opposition (LOO), Aubrey Norton, on TV, telling people that the Education budget for 2023 was reduced over the budget for 2022. Budget 2022 allocation for education amounted to over $64 billion.

Budget 2023 allocation for education amounted to over $84 billion, over 31 per cent higher than the 2022 allocation, not including amounts to pay salary adjustments, which took place in 2023 and the 6.5 per cent salary increase. Clearly, not even voodoo mathematics can claim that $84 billion is less than $64 billion. Hopefully, the LOO will not compound his mathematics shame by insisting that 135 is less than 84.

Norton’s allegation that the 2023 budgetary allocation for education showed a reduction over past budgets raises the question whether he and his colleagues are truly, genuinely mathematically challenged.

These same people who are today alleging that 84 is less than 64 also claimed after the No-Confidence motion in 2018 that 32 is larger than 33.

I, for one, refuse to accept that people who have completed high school, even completed university, some of whom are professionals, such as accountants, lawyers and doctors, can look people in the eyes and claim 32 is more than 33 and now 64 is more than 84.

They must know, they have to know, that they are absolutely taking people to be fools. Since this is basic mathematics that little children know, what could be the reason for these people to barefacedly fabricate a new form of mathematics that not only make 32 greater than 33, but also now make 64 more than 84.

Given that they are already giddy with the 61 per cent increase for education in Budget 2024, raising the allocation from $84 billion to $135 billion, I wonder how they will make the argument of reduced allocation for education or that 84 is greater than 135.

The fact is that successive PPP governments have steadfastly increased education budgets. In US dollars amount, the education budget was US$3.3 million in 1991, the last full year under the PNC before they were defeated in the October 5, 1992 election.

By 2014, the last full year of the PPP government before APNU+AFC took over, the education budget was $135 billion, or US$675 million, a more than 200 times increase over 1991, averaging a doubling of the budget annually.

Between 2019 and 2024, education allocations increased from $46 billion (2019) to $135 billion (2024), 2.93 times the 2019 allocation, representing a 0.60 times annual increase. The evidence shows clearly that the PNC reduced the annual increase of education allocations.

Between Budget 2014, the last PPP budget, and Budget 2019, the last PNC-led budget, the budget increased from $28 billion to $46 billion, 1.7 times, averaging 0.35 times annual increase. For every five-year period, the annual increases in education budgets average above 0.5 times versus the PNC record of annual increases over five-year periods of under 0.3 times.

Strengthening the education sector, promoting equity, and creating more appropriate learning environments with adequate technology means investing in the infrastructure. Budget 2024, allocates 24.4 per cent for capital, indicating a strong commitment to construction, rehabilitation and equipping schools.

This is not new for the PPP. In 2010, it was almost 11 per cent. A sampling of the PPP’s education allocation over the years shows that the PPP consistently allocated more than 10 per cent of its education budget for infrastructural and technological development. The PNC, on the other hand, always neglected the infrastructure, building no new schools.

Budget 1992, its last budget before democracy was restored, allocated a measly 2.7 per cent of the education budget for capital, meaning schools were left dilapidated across the country. After the PPP allocated 11 per cent allocation of the education budget for capital expenditure, in 2014, the PNC in 2015 allocated 4.9 per cent for capital investment in the education budget.

The story of which government consistently invests in education is a stark difference between the two major political parties of Guyana.

It is why today children have books and technology in schools in modern buildings. It is why the disgraceful practice of parents having to provide desks andchairs for their children in schools are over. That is the legacy of the PNC. It is the albatross that is weighing down Aubrey Norton.