–Dr. Jagdeo says; highlights several initiatives geared at enhancing education sector, improving lives of teachers

RECOGNISING that children and young people need to have “world-class” education to meet the needs of tomorrow, the government is continuing along its ambitious journey to enhance the sector in order contribute to its future leaders’ successes.
People’s Progressive Party (PPP) General Secretary and Vice-President, Dr. Bharrat Jagdeo, during a recent press conference, highlighted that the government was briskly pursuing new technologies and ideas that will continue to transform the education sector.
In its 2020 manifesto, the PPP/C promised to “deliver quality education for all.” This includes improving access to education at every level from nursery to university; raising the quality of education across all levels; and preparing students for the job market, especially at the technical and tertiary levels.

Notably, this promise is not lost, as within four years, the PPP/C administration has piloted a number of initiatives which have not only contributed to the nation’s economic transformation, but also bettered the lives of its people.
Some initiatives include building, expanding and bettering education facilities across Guyana, improving remuneration and conditions of service for the nation’s educators while also offering them incentives and opportunities to evolve their skills and qualifications.
Dr. Jagdeo was questioned about the government’s pioneering initiative within the education sector which has led to the New St George’s School of Sciences being on track to opening its doors this September for the 2024-2025 academic year.
In this light, Dr. Jagdeo said that specialised schools are part of the overall plan for the nation.

He emphasised: “But let’s not lose sight of what we are trying to achieve in education as a whole.”
The Vice-President then touched on several initiatives that the government was pursuing.
He said: “So, right at the beginning, we need more people and better trained people to work now before we even get to school. Now, today, the demand of the workforce, our country is changing. The demands for skills are different.”
Dr. Jagdeo said that there are a vast number of opportunities within the emerging sectors and thus, training of citizens needs to be done.

“So, we have embarked on this massive training programme, the 50,000 that I told you, with all the reform of curricula, the short-term skills training, the creation of new institutes, etc…, like the ones I mentioned in Berbice that’s the force element,” Dr. Jagdeo said.
In February of this year, President, Dr. Irfaan Ali, commissioned Guyana’s first state-of-the-art oil and gas training facility – The FacTor (Facility Simulator) – at Port Mourant, Berbice, Region Six.
The US$13 million (GY$2.6 billion) project is the first phase of the wider Guyana Technical Training College Inc.

The project was constructed through an alliance with the Government of Guyana, ExxonMobil Guyana Limited (EMGL), Hess and CNOOC.
The facility is designed to provide practical training for multiple programmes, enabling trainees to execute practice operations, troubleshooting, and maintenance activities in an environment that mirrors real-life plant conditions.
Also, Dr. Jagdeo related that the second element is increasing the budget for the school system. Some $135.2 billion has been allocated this year to realise the government’s vision of having a world-class education system.
Further, under the PPP/C administration, the wages and salaries have grown by 61 per cent. The wage bill increased from $24.4 billion in 2020 to $39 billion in 2023, representing a 61.4 per cent increase in salaries for teachers.
With these investments, Dr. Jagdeo said: “That would allow us to have better classrooms, more comfortable classrooms, equip them with the tools that we need to deliver modern education.”
The third element includes the training of teachers.

The Vice-President said: “So, of the 14,000 teachers, 6,000 are on the GOAL scholarship 4,000 there and 2,000 have finished Cyril Potter College in the last year.”
Additionally, he noted that the government was looking at an e-school model and apart from this, already the PPP/C government has removed the corporate tax on education.
“So, it’s a combined set of things. And then looking at these specialised schools, maybe where you have an entire focus on a single subject area or a stream where, where children want to go into that particular stream, it would probably yield a better and a higher quality education,” the Vice-President further said.
He went on to say: “When we said a world class education to our people, we mean it and it would involve a ton of other things, including upgrade of teachers.”