— President Ali says, highlights education, healthcare, infrastructure transformation in hinterland communities
PRESIDENT Dr. Irfaan Ali has stated that the government is closing the decades-old gap between coastal and hinterland communities, outlining the major investments in education, healthcare and public services, which are ensuring equal access across Guyana.
The President during a recent engagement with five female career journalists and high school students said that the hinterland, which was once marked by limited access to numerous sectors and services, is witnessing rapid transformation.
In education, Dr. Ali stated that when compared to five years ago, today, almost every hinterland school is connected to the Learning Channel or a digital platform, “so that every single school in the hinterland can be now part of the digital revolution in the Guyana Digital School.”
Prior to the People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) government taking up office in 2020, the education sector was severely under-resourced, but as President Ali has highlighted, there has now been a complete reform of education.
“We’re now investing to have universal secondary education in the hinterland,” the President said, noting: “Today we’re investing in world class labs in the secondary schools. We’re investing in practical instruction centres in the hinterland. We’re investing in technical centres in the in the hinterland.”
The PPP/C government has pursued an aggressive school construction programme with schools constructed across all regions in the country between 2020 and 2025.
Dr. Ali also stated that the government is addressing the nutritional aspect that aid education development.
“So, we have the school feeding programme in the hinterland, the hinterland kitchens. We have expanded scholarships now to the hinterland. Today, we have more students from the hinterland on our GOAL scholarship programme. Almost every single teacher in the hinterland now is either trained or in the training programme. So, we’ll have 100 per cent trained teachers in the hinterland,” he said.
Notably, since 2021, the Guyana Online Academy of Learning (GOAL) has helped thousands of Guyanese to open that door of empowerment by providing access to quality tertiary education.
Over the years, GOAL has partnered with various international universities to offer a wide range of academic and vocational programmes, including certificates, diplomas, bachelor’s, postgraduate, master and doctorate degrees.
GOAL has provided a record 39,000 fully funded scholarships to Guyanese nationals, almost double the government’s initial target of 20,000 scholarships by 2025.
Further, last year some 1,345 new teachers graduated from the Cyril Potter College of Education (CPCE).
That new cohort took the country’s trained teacher population to approximately 68 per cent, and the number of trained teachers in the hinterland regions to nearly 92 per cent.
Region One produced 135 graduates, Region Two 164, Region Three 169, Region Four 304, Region Five 119, Region Seven 35, Region Eight 23, and Region Nine 76.
At the same time, the government is building better teachers’ accommodation, increasing the allowances for teachers serving in the hinterland, continuously increasing the salaries for teachers and giving them opportunities to earn their degrees so that their salary scale improves, the President said.
Additionally, President Ali pointed out that there are now more students in the nursing programme in the country now from the hinterland than any other region.
“We have more persons in our patient care from the hinterland than any other region and I have this for you: The highest recruitment in the police academy came from Region One,” he said, adding: “So, in every area of national development and skills development, the most numbers are coming out of the hinterland. Why? Because, for the first time, hinterland students have the opportunity to write CXC and to have the basic requirements to enter these programmes and we’re seeing record numbers entering these programmes. So, the results are already there.”
EVEN LEVEL OF SERVICE
Infrastructure and transportation in hinterland communities have also drastically improved, complementing the transformation taking place in the other sectors and as President Ali said, “Our investment is multifaceted.”
He went on to say that the government is creating an “even level of service across every region.”
The President then turned his attention to the transformation taking place in the health sector, including the construction of regional hospitals.
Emphasising the importance of these investments, President Ali said: “Today, we have patients from Brazil going to Lethem. Five years ago, it was the reverse. Five years ago, we had a thousand times more than were medevaced out of the hinterland that we have today. We have less today because we have been able to invest in the facilities, invest in the human resources, invest in the labs, and connect through telemedicine our health centres, health clinics, our hospitals. So, it is the evenness of investment it is to create. It is the creation of a minimum level of service that must be available to all our citizens, regardless of where they live.”
Up to December 2025, it was reported that excavation works commenced at the site of the Moruca Regional Hospital in Region One.
The building of this new hospital marks another major expansion of healthcare services for hinterland communities.
The projected total investment for the project is GY$4.6 billion.
