-says Guyana Digital School on the cards to further country’s push towards a digital economy

AS the government continues its aggressive push towards building a digital economy, President Dr Irfaan Ali on Thursday announced that they are moving to establish the Guyana Digital School.

The Head of State made this announcement during a special sitting of the 12th Parliament at the Arthur Chung Conference Centre in Liliendaal.

According to Dr Ali, the government has already started the important foundational work in creating a digital economy with a vision of an era that will harness the power of digital technology and innovation to continue the upliftment of citizens, services and government institutions.

“No longer constrained by geography, our government is ready to lead the charge into this digital future. Digital Guyana envisions a thriving citizen-centric digital ecosystem that will enhance education, foster innovation, embrace digitisation and advance equity,” President Ali expressed.

He said this move will be led by a robust infrastructure to lead efforts in delivering effective, accountable, secure and inclusive digital services across all sectors to mitigate the risk of being left behind globally and further advance sustainable economic and social development in Guyana.

He added, “My government’s vision of a digital Guyana encompasses advancement and innovation for digital education, digital incubation, digital transformation, digital leadership, data sovereignty and citizenship.”

President Ali indicated that bringing digital education to the population has already commenced under this administration with the launch of several programmes including the One Guyana digital initiative where more than 2,000 Guyanese are focused on frontend and backend technology with job placement opportunities upon completion.

Adding to the various programmes implemented in the government’s digital education push, President Ali told the house about the 150,000 coders initiative, the launch of the Coursera platform which gives Guyanese free access to some 6,000 courses at the annual cost of US$1.4 million and the granting of more than 29,000 scholarships through the Guyana Online Academy of Learning (GOAL).

Further, he noted that more initiatives are in the pipeline to add to the already existing ones in the thrust towards digital education and the further building out of the digital economy.

“The government is moving to establish the Guyana Digital School to create a new and innovative learning environment for our students, across the country giving every child the same access and the same quality of teaching materials,” the Head of State announced.

He disclosed that this digital school will be resourced like any brick-and-mortar facility with the added benefit of using Artificial Intelligence (AI) to support the learning process.

Further, it will be equipped with the entire Guyana curriculum from nursery to Grade 12 with all textbooks and teaching materials, online tutors and AI to review assessments and generate development reports.

According to President Ali the digital school will cater for teaching entrepreneurial, real-life skills and cultural classes along with an electronic nursing and accounting school, remedial education and even current assessments like the National Grade Six Assessment (NGSA) and the Caribbean Examinations Council’s (CXC) various examinations.

“More importantly in fulfilling our promise of ensuring our prosperity must redound to the prosperity of the CARICOM region, this Guyana Digital School will also be available for CARICOM citizens,” he revealed.

President Ali said interventions have been launched where all teachers are being trained to use various ICT tools and strategies providing schools with appropriate equipment and software, reforming school curriculum for the development of ICT proficiency, along with the provision of incentives for training in ICT.

Through technology, it was noted that the government is also in the process of modernising industries to create more jobs, improve efficiency and ensure sustainable growth.

Further, President Ali provided many examples of digital changes that have already been implemented in various sectors to provide an understanding of the magnitude of work that has already commenced towards the transformation of the economy in this regard.

He indicated that the banking sector is also benefitting from the transformation in terms of digitisation as they seek to create modern financial services by promoting digital banking and financial technology (Fintech).

Additionally, governance services are also undergoing a tremendous transformation as the drive to this new digital platform takes place.

“We are transforming our public service by digitalising processes, improving accessibility, transparency and efficiency for all citizens,” he expressed.

Further, he affirmed that the government’s duty is to deliver quality public service and quality service to the people of the country and the digital economy and system that is being built out would hold persons accountable, ensuring there is traceability in the way public services are carried out.

President Ali later iterated, “We have one of the most aggressive and transformative digital economies in the world today, the level of aggression in which we are pursuing the digital opportunity is second to none.”