-President Ali announces, shares government’s plans to set new standards to improve education delivery countrywide

AS the government works on setting a new standard for the delivery of education, close to 150 new facilities are being constructed and conceptualised, President, Dr Irfaan Ali has said.

The Head of State made this revelation on Friday last, while commissioning a brand-new primary school at Zeelugt in Region Three (Essequibo Islands- West Demerara).

“We have close to 150 new education facilities under construction or at project conceptualisation,” the President said while addressing parents, teachers and children.

He further disclosed that a substantial amount of funding has been made available to the Ministry of Education to conduct works on several schools across the country, ensuring that the necessary infrastructure is maintained in these facilities.

“As I speak to you now, we have made a commitment and made the resources available to the Ministry of Education to have every school in our country that needs to be repainted, repainted. Every washroom facility that needs to be fixed, fixed. Every roof that needs to be fixed, fixed. Every drainage system, the guttering system that needs to be fixed, fixed.”

Meanwhile, resources will be expended to ensure that every single school is outfitted with a multi-purpose tarmac to support activities in that school.

“Not only are we building new schools, we are setting new and improved minimum standards for your children, our teachers and parents. It is also important for us to understand how we are investing in our teachers, how we are investing in the totality of the system to support this expansion in education,” he said.

Concurrently, the President pointed out that the government is making equal investments in the country’s educators.
“It is also important for us to understand how we are investing in our teachers, how we are investing in the totality of the system to support this expansion in education.”

Pointing to the increases made to teachers’ salaries and incentives, he noted,
“This is going to continue to get better… look at the rate of increase…look at the totality of the package and the rate of increase the teachers are receiving.

“We are one of the only countries where we train our teachers free of cost. But more importantly, our teachers get a stipend while they receive that training. And when we came into government, that stipend was below $10,000. Today, that stipend is almost $100,000 — more than 900 per cent increase in a stipend.”

He stated that the government’s policy is not just to get more teachers into the profession, but to ensure that all are trained educators.

Meanwhile, Education Minister Priya Manickchand noted that more than 3,000 teachers have been trained countrywide.

She reiterated that the ministry is making significant investments to improve classrooms, the infrastructure at schools and surrounding areas, ensuring that both children and educators have comfortable spaces to thrive.

“These investments are consciously made so that you could be better people, so that your children can have a better life than you, a life of plenty, a life where there’s no struggle,” the education minister said.

Last month an agreement for a pay hike for the country’s educators was solidified between the Ministry of Education and the Guyana Teacher’s Union (GTU). In 2024, teachers will receive a 10 per cent increase, in 2025 they will see an eight per cent increase, and in 2026 they will see a nine per cent increase.

These increases in these years are subject to an adjustable clause to which the President said if there are higher increases announced for the Public Service, teachers will get the difference between what is in the agreement and that higher number.

Additionally, the multi-year agreement covers increases in allowances for specific categories of teachers, including those who have completed higher levels of academic qualification.

At the end of 2023, President Ali had revealed new adjustments to teachers’ salaries, and interventions that will accumulate to a total of $1.9 billion in additional disposable income for the country’s educators.