—President Ali announces diplomas, degrees in pharmacy, engineering among programmes to be offered

Residents, particularly youths along the Essequibo Coast, Region two (Poomeroon-Supenaam) will soon be able to access tertiary education through Guyana’s flagship digital school.

This was revealed on Wednesday by President Dr. Irfaan Ali, who was at the time addressing a gathering the commissioning ceremony for the Deeds and Commercial Registries Office in Suddie, Region Two.
“Within the next eight months, or before [we will] operationalize university education here in Guyana through the Guyana digital school so our young people can have access right here, as usual, to degrees and diploma,” the Head of State said.

Several programmes which include diplomas and degrees in pharmacy, tourism and hospitality, agriculture science, dentistry, civil, electrical and mechanical engineering have been identified.
These programmes, he noted, have been identified based on the needs of Guyana in the near future.

“Whether we have to build a lab facility, we will build a lab facility to ensure that your children can have these degrees or diplomas specifically identified based on the needs of our country.”
This will further complement the ongoing registered nursing programme being spearheaded by the Ministry of Health in the region.
The Guyana Digital school is currently being rolled out across the country and a total of 2, 400 students have since registered following the launch of the initiative in January.

The digital platform was initially designed to offer primary to secondary education, allowing students to register and attend classes remotely, ensuring a flexible and inclusive learning experience. “It’s just like a normal school, but you can access it from anywhere, and the best teachers will be available for all the population,” Dr. Ali shared during a previous interview.

Dr. Ali had first announced the establishment of the digital school back in May 2024, where he had outlined a series of strategic investments being made to facilitate a ‘technology-driven’ education system in Guyana. Since assuming office in 2020, the government has rolled out several initiatives to improve the delivery of education across the country; these include the establishment of ‘smart’ classrooms across a number of primary and secondary institutions. ‘Smart’ classrooms are equipped with an interactive, computerised, touch-screen whiteboard, and cameras which can be used to video the lesson by the teachers, and a monitor connected to the cameras.

Teachers of any subject can utilise the devices to make their classes more interactive and attractive to students. This technology is deemed very necessary as the world moves forward to more technologically assisted methods of teaching. The first ‘smart’ classroom was opened by the People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) government in 2015 at the North Ruimveldt Secondary School, while the second was opened at Queen’s College in 2020. In the country’s 2024 fiscal package, some $135.2 billion has been budgetted for the education sector, with huge sums being invested in the construction of new

schools. Simultaneously, investments are being made to ensure all teachers can be trained graduates.