With 15% of girls between the ages of 15 and 19 having begun childbearing, according to a Situation Analysis of Children and Women, the chasm separating Guyana from achieving universal secondary education yawns as widely now as it ever did. And while there are no data yet on the state of boys, the number of them opting out of school long before they even get to Grade Nine, for various reasons, is likely higher than the 15% of girls. Anecdotal evidence places boys between the ages of 15 and 19 at work on fishing vessels, on farms and in the mining industry among other such sites, as well as involved in criminal activities.
What the data also revealed is that the girls in the 15 to 19 age group more likely to become young mothers are from Indigenous communities (one in every five) and poor households (one in every four). The analysis was carried out during last year and this year, which makes the data fresh and relevant, and it points to the need for a similar one to be done with a focus on boys.
Situation analyses are usually done to identify the internal and external forces that may militate against an organisation’s performance. In this instance, the analysis, in part, highlights stumbling blocks to Guyana reaching the 2030 Sustainable Development Goal 4, which deals with education. But more importantly, it points to barriers to real economic progress for the individual, his or her community and the country at large. The real value of a situation analysis therefore lies not just in having done it, but in actually using the information and figures derived therefrom to put plans in place to bring about change.
The main objective of this analysis, the result of a collaboration between the Government of Guyana and the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), was to support the new government in the development and implementation of the national strategic development plans and programmes to advance development of the rights of Guyanese children with a strong equity focus on the most vulnerable children and their families.
For a long time, data gathering and surveys have been done only sparsely in this country, which means that addressing such problems as early school leaving, for example, often tends to be done after the fact. Instead this should be preventative. The importance of constant data gathering cannot be overemphasized as it reveals trends that might otherwise be missed. For instance, data may show an annual trend of a certain number of boys leaving school before Grade Nine, leading to measures being put in place to prevent this. At the same time, there would be programmes in place to capture those early school leavers and address their obvious lack of learning with remedial education or alternatively, vocational training.
There are and have been numerous programmes conducted countrywide dealing with the latter, both at the government and non-governmental level. Ergo, there must be hundreds of young people all over Guyana either already trained or undergoing training in areas such as agro-processing, carpentry/joinery, garment construction, cake decorating/catering, electrical installation, auto-mechanics, masonry, massage therapy, craft-making and the like. None of these trades are to be scoffed at as each could offer trained persons a livelihood. However, what is lacking is the stimulus to keep children in school until the successful completion of their secondary education and the inspiration to have them pursue tertiary studies.
The lack of expertise in certain areas needed to push the country forward has become a talking point, and the need for action cannot be underestimated. With the analysis having been handed over to the Minister of Social Protection last week, one expects to shortly see preventative measures to the pressing issues it uncovered being addressed.
