Dear Editor,
In reading the recently released final draft of the Framework for Guyana Green State Development Strategy (GSDS) by the Department of Environment, Ministry of the Presidency, I saw that a lot of financing is expected to come from the private sector and private investors. I also saw that there will be great reliance on the building up of enterprise under the heading ‘Green and inclusive structural transformation’:
“The structural transformation process will require an enabling business environment, to include: inter alia, measures to improve business investment and growth, broaden access to the technical and financial resources required (especially for micro, small and medium enterprises), and engender decent employment conditions for inclusive participation in the benefits of growth” (page 13).
This kind of enterprise and the climate for it is better developed when parents can choose the type of education they want their children to have. VAT on private schools is contrary to enabling this kind of entrepreneurship.
In the entire document the only role mentioned for parents is as monitors of the performance of the schools through PTAs and SIACs. Evidently, the almighty Ministry of Education is taken as also omniscient in what is good for our children to learn. There is no mention of parents being enabled to choose the kind of education that is their human right.
Yours faithfully,
Alfred Bhulai
