Emphasising that Guyana’s development hinges on the education of its people, President David Granger yesterday pledged to ensure that quality education is available in all regions of the country even as he urged the populace to assist less fortunate children.
Speaking at the second annual conference of the International Decade for People of African Descent Assembly-Guyana, Granger recalled that in the past, the community took responsibility for every child and made sure that they went to, and stayed in school.
“And today, it is a community challenge again to ensure that in your street, in your village, in your neighbourhood, every child will go to school,” the president said, even as he pledged that come next year, his government will enforce constitutional provisions to ensure free education for all.
“If the child doesn’t have breakfast, give the child breakfast; if the child doesn’t have transport, give that child a bicycle so the child could ride to school. This is important, it is not a joke. Children have to go to school if we are turn this country around,” he said.
Granger, whose caretaker administration has been described in recent days as functioning outside of the constitution, said that for the poor, education may be the only tool to bring them out of the social scourge and ensure that they are treated equally in society.
“It is difficult for the extremely poor to be treated, to be regarded, to be perceived as equals. Most poor people are the children of poor people and it is likely that their children will be poor also. Education is essential if the cycle of hereditary poverty is to be broken,” he said.
Underscoring that quality education has always been a top priority, Granger said that he eagerly awaits 2020 to launch his much anticipated decade of development programme where the constitutional right of free education from nursery to university will be enforced.
Granger is under pressure to name a date for general elections after being advised on Thursday by the Guyana Elections Commission that it would be ready for general elections by the end of February 2020.
He has repeatedly said that oil revenues will be used to fund free education as he believes that this country’s resources belong to future generations and future generations will benefit and profit from being educated.
“Next year, we shall inaugurate the decade of development for Guyana. That decade will aim, among other things, in enforcing the constitutional requirement of every Guyanese child to free education,” he said. “It will be aimed at establishing a first class education system which will ensure that every child has a place in school and that there is a school in every village. No street children, no skulking; every child must go to school and we will help that child to go to school, the State will help that child go to school,” he said to thunderous applause.
The president pointed to his own transportation initiative, the Public Education Transport Service (PETS) programme – also known as the three B’s (Bus, Boats and Bicycles) – which was launched four years ago, and noted the relief it brings to the many children whose parents struggle to afford them getting to and from school.
In a few days, according to Granger, the 40th school bus will be donated. He said, so far, over 4,000 bicycles have been given to school children and over 12 school boats handed over to hinterland communities.
“The purpose is to ensure that children get to school,” he stressed as he once again shared the reason behind the vision – his wife had presented a 12-year-old girl from the hinterland with a book and the child said she could not read. “My mission is to ensure that children have access to school. Jump on the bus and go there free. Get your learning, later on you will pay back but right now, get your learning,” he said.
‘Quality education’
Of note, the President said, is that it is important to understand that education, in this wider cultural context, extends beyond the classroom. “It involves peoples’ histories, race, religion and economic, political and social relations. Culture, in turn, can impact on the values of education and the way it is organised and taught. Education prepares people for social integration and cannot be divorced from its cultural context. It has to be responsive to that context and to the challenges which it presents,” he said.
And despite Guyana’s complex geographical makeup, the president pledged to bring quality education to all regions. “We will bring the schools to you,” said Granger, adding that he would like for every region to have schools of the same calibre as this country’s top six, all of which are located in the capital Georgetown.
With education, the president said, people won’t need continued government handouts. “It does not speak about gifts; it does not speak about handouts; it does not speak about vouchers; it speaks about education…” he said, referring to the Unit-ed Nations Programme of Activities for the implementation of the 2015-2024 International Decade of People of African Descent.
Granger spent a great deal of his over an hour long address to also point out the importance of
culture and show that education and culture are connected inextricably.
“Education prepares people to live in, and adapt to, society; preserves and transmits cultural knowledge, skills and values, and propagates cultural beliefs, customs, mores, traditions, symbols and values. The history of humanity is the history of interactions. Conquest, travel and migration have exposed people to different cultures. Education has been transformed through these and contacts. The history of Guyana is one of interactions among various peoples and their cultures. These cultures have added to our cultural diversity and, in turn, have impacted on education,” he posited.
“Language reflects the influence of this diversity. Richard Allsopp pointed to the linguistic contribution of these groups, exemplified in the everyday use of words and expressions which, typically, are Guyanese or creolese – paal, rod, koker and stelling (Dutch); bateau (French), kwe-kwe, fu-fu, metemgee (African), dharoo (Indian) and benab, matapee and warishi (Amerindian). Other expressions – such as ‘eye-pass’, ‘cut-eye’, ‘hard-ears’ and ‘suck-teeth’ – are typical creolese. The British had a great impact on the public education system. The influence is present through the schools they established, the curricula, uniforms, discipline and the organisation of the school year which coincided with the Anglo-Christian school year with its Easter and Christmas terms. You cannot separate education from the cultural experience,” he added.
And in the classroom, where a “constellation of ethnicities – Africans, Amerindians, Chinese, Indians, Portuguese and persons of mixed ancestry and religious denominations such as Christians, Muslims, Hindus and Rastafarians” meet on a daily basis, Granger said each group brings for the learning of others their own customs, dress, festivals, food, holy days and traditions. “Schooling exposes Guyanese children to these varied influences,” he said.
The president said that education cannot be separated from culture as “education is the principal means through which culture is propagated and preserved. Culture, in turn, shapes educational development.”
It is why his decade-long development plans will see a number of programmes rolled out that encompasses elements of both education and culture such as, “enforcing the constitutional entitlement of every Guyanese child to free university education; ensuring a first-class educational system, one which would ensure that every child [has a place] in school and that there is a school in every village; enabling every child to attend and stay in school, through expanding of initiatives such as the Public Education Transport Services and the national schools’ feeding programme; extending regional and hinterland educational development; and encouraging the involvement of communities and cultural and social organisations in education,” he said.
