THIS morning, when the Christmas Term bell sounds in all 10 of Guyana’s administrative regions, it will close out the August holidays and mark the end of weeks of inspection, repairs and preparation that deserve genuine praise.
Getting a school year started sounds simple until you consider how many roofs, drains, desks and teachers have to be in place at once, in every corner of the country, on the same morning. This year, by every visible measure, Guyana got there.
The Ministry of Education’s approach has been methodical rather than cosmetic. Regional Executive Officers were handed a checklist built at a multi-stakeholder meeting and told to physically inspect every institution, submitting photographic evidence rather than assurances.
Education Minister Sonia Parag paired that virtual oversight with her own site visits, touring West End Nursery and Mahaicony Primary and Secondary in Region Five, questioning teachers, cleaners and contractors directly about whether classrooms would be clean, safe and functional on day one.
Her instruction to regional officers was blunt and, refreshingly, unambiguous: “We must not have any complaints when schools are reopened.” That is the standard a parent wants to hear a minister set.
Readiness this credible does not happen without money behind it. The 2026 national budget committed $183.6 billion to education, with $24.3 billion earmarked specifically for school infrastructure, funding that has already delivered new nursery, primary and secondary schools from Falls Top and Kanapang to Karaudarnau and Kwebanna, along with new hinterland dormitories in communities such as Jawalla and Waramadong.
Eighteen new schools opened in the year’s first quarter alone, most of them in hinterland regions where overcrowding has been a long-standing complaint. That is investment showing up as classrooms, not just line items in a budget speech.
The government has also made it easier for families to walk through the doors it has repaired. The “Because We Care” grant now totals $85,000 per child once the uniform and newly introduced transportation allowances are added, reaching roughly 206,000 students in public and private schools alike.
Free examination fees for up to eight CSEC and CAPE subjects, and a tuition-free University of Guyana, extend that same logic all the way to the end of a child’s education. A ready classroom means little if a family cannot afford to use it; this year’s budget treats both problems as one.
None of this closes every gap, hinterland connectivity remains a genuine test for the digital learning programmes now being expanded. But a government that inspects before it celebrates, and that backs its promises with a budget line, has earned the confidence with which it opens its doors today.
