—Former BCCPS study coordinator blasts former college as unaccredited, exclusionary, rooted in political favouritism

FORMER study coordinator at the now-closed Bertram Collins College of the Public Service (BCCPS), Samuel Sandy, has stated that the partnership with the current government and Coursera is the nation’s first real step towards an inclusive, forward-looking and modern pursuit of national human resource development.

The former study coordinator of BCCPS, which was established by the former APNU+AFC administration, accused the creators of the institution of imposing a politically selective system that was outdated, exclusionary and failed to build the professional public service Guyana actually needs.

Sandy’s pointed rebuke comes on the heels of the former main opposition, the A Partnership for National Unity (APNU)/ People’s National Congress-Reform (PNC-R), defending the college, which he explained, in a letter to the editor, was a militarised, relic of the past that was unaccredited.

“Guyana is positioning itself for rapid transformation in the years ahead. To sustain this momentum, our education and training systems must evolve. The BCCPS was firmly rooted in the past. Coursera provides a pathway to the future and ensures that learning is accessible, relevant, and responsive to the needs of a modern society,” the letter read.

Sandy, who is not only a former study coordinator at the college but also an ex-member of the PNC-R, noted in the letter that it is important to offer a factual and experience-based perspective on the ongoing discussion surrounding public service training in Guyana.

First, speaking of the most significant deficiencies of the college, which was the lack of accreditation by the Accreditation Council of Guyana, Sandy noted this rendered the cadets ill-equipped, as this meant that their qualifications received did not meet nationally recognised standards.

Another flaw of the college was its institutional design, as Sandy explained, the leadership structure was dominated by former army generals, colonels, sergeants, and other military personnel, rather than individuals with professional training and expertise in public administration or public service reform.

“This resulted in a culture and policy environment that closely mirrored the organisational framework of the Guyana Defence Force,” he said, noting that the militarised approach was not “inherently inappropriate.”

He further stated that the programme catered to a select and often “politically favoured group” of individuals, limiting access to many talented and deserving Guyanese and the curriculum was “one-dimensional” and offered “no meaningful” opportunities for specialisation.

He said that, unlike BCCPS, Coursera is open to every eligible Guyanese, regardless of background or political affiliation and it supports specialisation, facilitates upskilling in hundreds of areas, and aligns with the realities of a technologically driven twenty-first-century workforce.

Additionally, aside from the BCCPS’ failure to build a stable, long-term public service workforce, he then pointed to the institution fostering internal tensions within agencies.

Cadets were placed at the Clerk Three level, which often positioned them above Clerk One and Clerk Two officers who had more qualifications and greater experience, and who were then required to train individuals who entered above them. This understandably undermined morale and organisational harmony, Sandy explained.

This was also highlighted by Education Minister and former Minister of Public Service Sonia Parag.

The Minister said: “Having served as the Minister of Public Service, the Bertram Collins College promoted unfair recruitment practices in the Public Service. To be clear a person exiting the College jumped a Clerk II position straight into the Public Service without the actual experience of the system as a Clerk II. It was also only for a selected political few to exercise authority over the College while being paid exorbitant salaries that were obscene.”

COURSERA REPRESENTS THE FUTURE

Minister of Health, Dr. Frank Anthony, also refuted the former main opposition’s unfounded claims on the Coursera platform, noting that PNC-R’s Coretta McDonald’s recent attempt to smear the government’s partnership reveals more about her political motivations than any substantive concern for public service training.

Being frank, the Minister said the BCCPS was not a “bastion of excellence; it was a political institution, crafted during the APNU period to instil party loyalty rather than develop the intellectual capacity or professional competence of public servants. It served less as a school for governance and more as a factory for ideological conditioning. It was the APNU’s version of the Sophia Declaration: party-first, public interest later.”

Contrast that with Coursera, the Minister noted that this is one of the world’s leading online learning platforms, which partners with top-tier global universities such as Yale, Stanford, Johns Hopkins, and Imperial College London.

Dr. Anthony made it clear that Coursera is not interested in which party you vote for, but its only interest lies in empowering learners with knowledge, skills, and opportunities.

“That is the kind of transformative access Guyana needs,” the Health Minister pointedly said.

He said: “The criticisms McDonald offers reveal a deeply outdated perspective on training and education. While she waxes poetic about an institution steeped in political nostalgia, she fails to confront the urgent needs of a modern public service.”

Highlighting the merits of Coursera, Dr. Anthony said learning is no longer confined to the privileged few who can access campus-based classes in the capital. All that is needed is a device and an internet connection with Coursera.

Second, Coursera’s courses offer real-world relevance, designed by global leaders in fields like public health, project management, data science, digital transformation, and more. Compared to the insular curriculum of BCCPS, Coursera brings global standards into Guyanese public service training.

While BCCPS trained a few dozen at best, through the Coursera partnership, Guyana stands ready to train 27,000 public servants in a single year.

The minister labelled this as “transformational” and “21st-century nation-building.”

He further noted that Coursera produces empowered, critical thinkers, equipped to navigate an evolving global landscape and serve their country with fresh skills and disciplined thought and trains Guyanese to become competent professionals, not “ideological foot soldiers.”

What Guyana needs now is not institutions designed to reinforce party loyalty, the Health Minister said, noting, “That is what Coursera offers. McDonald’s stance is a relic of a bygone era, one that Guyana has long outgrown,” Dr. Anthony plainly put it, adding that education must evolve and Coursera is the tool for the future.