A sum of $94.4 billion has been budgeted to improve access as well as enhance the quality of education for Guyanese this year.
“Our Government is committed to fulfilling our Manifesto promise of increasing access to education for all, across all levels, delivered at world class standards, and increasing the quality of Guyana’s human capital to be competitive in the region and the world,” said the Minister of Finance Dr Ashni Singh during the 2023 budget presentation yesterday.
He noted that despite Government’s investments in the education sector, it is aware of the prolonged effects of the pandemic on the performance of students, and as a result, the Government will be deploying innovative strategies to engage learners, and to boost attendance to ensure students have adequate contact hours to improve their performance.
He disclosed that the curricula for Grades 1 through 4 are expected to be completely rolled out this year with training on their implementation also expected to continue. Singh said that the school mapping exercise that was launched in 2022 will also be completed this year.
“We acknowledge that school infrastructure, especially in the hinterland and riverain areas, remains a challenge. Government is committed to providing a quality learning environment for all students and for this reason, the mapping exercise will clearly detail specific infrastructure enhancement needs for individual schools at all levels. The results of this exercise will inform immediate and long-term interventions regarding school building infrastructure,” he said.
In 2023, the government through the Ministry of Education (MoE) will upgrade, and maintain educational buildings and other facilities including nursery, primary and secondary schools in areas such as Hosororo, Patentia, Orealla, Prospect, Good Hope, Yarrowkabra, North Ruimveldt and Diamond.
Singh noted that the MoE will also commence the construction of facilities to house the students of St. George’s and Christ Church secondary schools as well provide short-term accommodation where there is overcrowding. An amount of $12.4 billion has been budgeted to improve education infrastructure across the country.
The government will also continue the rollout of the National School Feeding Programme which will provide juice and biscuits, breakfast, and hot meals to over 85,000 pupils at a cost of $2.1 billion with a new Home-Grown School Feeding programme, which allows communities to provide fresh vegetables and milk among other food products to schools, to be introduced.
In 2023, the Ministry will be implementing the Education Management Information System software in all secondary schools in Region 4 and Georgetown, to improve data management capacity, and monitor school performance and decision making. The ministry plans to create 20 smart classrooms for secondary schools bringing the total to 36 smart classrooms by the end of the year.
According to Singh in excess of 7,500 tablets, which are capable of functioning offline in areas with poor connectivity will also be procured with the monies budgeted for the MoE, and more than $3.4 billion worth in textbooks for use at the primary and secondary levels will also be bought.
The Cyril Potter College of Education will expand intake to accommodate approximately 2,000 trainee teachers each year, utilising a blended modality of in-house capability and online courses while an amount of $3.7 billion has been allocated for the management and expansion of operations at the University of Guyana Turkeyen and Berbice campuses.
Meanwhile, the sum of $1.8 billion is budgeted for the GOAL scholarship programme and caters for 8,555 new students and 1,047 continuing students. “This will add to the nearly 14,000 scholarships awarded since 2021, fulfilling the Manifesto promise of providing 20,000 online scholarships,” said Singh.
Recognizing the importance of Technical and Vocational Education Training (TVET) to Guyana’s economy, Singh says, the government will be investing heavily in TVET. As such, to improve the quality of training, the ministry will be revising the curriculum to align the teachings with the Caribbean Vocational Qualification standards and adding nine courses to the Secondary Competency Certificate Programme including crop production, mechanical engineering, electrical technology, and mechanical technology.
He noted that works are progressing on the construction of Practical Instructional Centres at Beterverwagting, Fellowship and Hopetown, and Practical Instructional Departments at the North West Secondary, Bartica Secondary and St. Ignatius Secondary, and they are all expected to be completed in 2023.
Works will also commence for the construction of a Guyana Technical Training College at Port Mourant that will be the premier institution offering oil and gas training. Singh said that an amount of $488.5 million is allocated for the Board of Industrial Training to expand training programmes in 2023 for 7,890 persons.
“Our TVET and other training institutions have been mandated to adopt tracer studies in order to demonstrate the effectiveness of their training programmes translating to job creation. Indeed, our investments in TVET are aimed at improving our response to labour market demands and providing employment opportunities and to this end, in 2023 we have budgeted $2.5 billion for the TVET programme,” he said.
