By Dwayne Benjamin
This article is the first of two instalments which seeks to examine the impact of the debt crisis of the 1980s on the education system in Guyana, specifically as it relates to nursery, primary and secondary sectors. In so doing, this article will be divided into parts; firstly, an examination of the education policy changes of the early 1970s and secondly, an examination of the impacts of the debt crisis on the education sector from the late 1970s to the mid 1980s.
The early 1970s can be considered as a period of change and prosperity in the context of the post colonial developments in Guyana. In the aftermath of Independence, the PNC led administration embarked on concerted efforts aimed at the decolonisation and restructuring of the Guyanese economy and society along socialist lines. Thus, the education sector was seen as a crucial part in the process of decolonisation. The synergistic relation between education and national development within a post colonial framework was established as early as 1968, in a Policy Memorandum on Education which stated “in devising a national system of Education and in drawing educational programmes for Guyana, the government is fully cognizant of the fact that education plays a vital role in the economic and social advancement of the country. An educated citizenry is our best investment in progress and development.” Some commentators argued that it was this philosophical position that served as the catalyst for the priority given to educational policy changes during the early 1970s. While this might be debatable in some circles, what was more certain was the fact that in the post independence era there was a growing discomfort in the upper echelons of the government as to the “pace and direction of educational changes in Guyana”. This discomfort largely centred around the relevance of education provision to the development agenda, the inadequacy of educational opportunities in relation to demand, and the exclusion and entrenched elitism that in general characterised the educational sector. In fact one of the main criticisms of the inherited education system was that it represented a mismatch between the expectations of education and development. According to then Education Minister Shirley Field-Ridley, “the need for education change from this vantage point is derived from the fact that the output of that type of educational system did not meet the vital requirements of the education for development. The colonial political economy and the associated education system were simply not concerned with development”.
It was within this context that education policies were fashioned within the national development agenda with the objectives of creating what was termed an “egalitarian society” and also to provide the extensive range of skills that were needed for national development, especially in support of the Cooperative sectors and the various nationalisation programmes. Thus, it was clear that profound changes had to be made in order to fully situate the education system within the context of national development.
Foremost amongst these changes was the introduction of a policy of universal free education from nursery to university by way of the Constitutional Amendment Bill of 1976, and this policy was later enshrined in the 1980 constitution as a fundamental right of citizens. By virtue of the passing of this bill in 1976, all formal educational institutions came under state control. The policy of Universal Free Education even though controversial, was symbolic of the importance of the value attributed to Education by the state. Since, it resulted in close to 696 schools coming under the control of the state. Most of these schools were privately financed or owned by church organisations. Secondly, it also meant that fee paying was now abolished and education was now heavily subsidized by the state. Thirdly, this policy represented a bold step in the face of adversity at a time when from all indicators, it would seem that Guyana was about to experience an economic decline by the end of the decade. Even more significant was the fact that this policy created the demand for increased education expenditures in the form of infrastructural investments, the cost of which had to be borne solely by state. Consequently, between 1970 and 1979 there were increases in the number of educational institutions in Guyana from 432 to 1,214 (Primary school and primary tops were 758). This increase was equally matched by increases in enrolment numbers and participation rates from a total of 162,076 to 182,682.
In addition to the policy of universal free education, a policy of state subsidization of education was also pursued. This policy of subsidization of education resulted in increased expenditure by the state on the Education sector. Tyrone Ferguson states “the 1970s were marked by substantially high levels of public spending on education.” This was reflected by increases in educational expenditures as a percentage of Gross Domestic Product between 1970 and 1980 averaging in excess of 5.3% as compared to 4.6% between 1966 and 1969. Similarly, educational expenditures as a percentage of total government expenditures also increased during the same period from 13.7% in 1970 to 18.1% in 1978 and by 1980 it was almost 16%. The policy of state subsidization represented a critical departure from the norm hitherto, in that previously, the financing of education was mainly through religious bodies, private organisations and the state. The policy of subsidization in tandem with the policy of universal free education meant that most of the financing for the Education sector was a matter for the state. State subsidization of education was unique to Guyana during this period, since most Caribbean States embarked on policies aimed at cost recovery programmes in the education sectors.
A third significant change during this era had to do with the expansion of the curriculum at the secondary level. One of the criticisms of the pre-1970s education system was that “it was restricted to a privileged class,” mainly the academically inclined or person with interests in religious education. The object of curriculum changes during this period as espoused by Minister Field-Ridley was to facilitate “the provision of the extensive range of skills that were need for national development purposes”. In this regard, the modification of the curriculum beyond traditional “grammar school type education” to include a more “skill based type” by the provision of technical and vocational education was seen as a necessary imperative. As such, Technical and vocational education was included as part of the Curriculum in the secondary level. To support this new curriculum, three tertiary institutions of technical and vocational education as well five multilateral schools were established namely; Department of Technical Studies was established in Anna Regina Secondary School in 1970, the New Amsterdam Technical Institute 1971 and the Guyana Industrial Training Institute, 1972 along with the establishment of multilateral schools at Linden, New Amsterdam, Bladen Hall, Anna Regina and Ruimveldt. This new policy approach to secondary education not only provided an ideal solution to a crucial problem in the hitherto education system in which persons would have been excluded or marginalized by virtue of not being academically inclined, but was also critical in providing the necessary skills that were needed to support the development agenda of the Feed, Clothe and House the nation plan of 1972-1976.
Finally, efforts were made to improve the quality and delivery of education at the levels of primary and secondary, with the establishment of the specialist teacher training centres. To this end a total of $26 million dollars, financed mainly World Bank infrastructure loans was used to build two teacher training facilities. These institutions catered for teacher training at the primary and secondary levels.
In the final analysis, it is important to note that while these policy changes might have impacted positively on the development agenda of Guyana during the early 1970s mainly by the expansion of opportunities to education, infrastructural developments, curriculum reforms, state subsidies and state provision of universal free education, these developments cannot be seen as isolated from the economic prosperity of the period. According to some economists, the period between 1970 and 1975 can be considered as a period of “phenomenal economic boom” in the Guyana economy. Driven largely by favourable global commodity prices and increased production in the country’s major export commodities such as rice, sugar and bauxite, Guyana experienced consistently rapid economic growth rates averaging 3.9% between 1970 and 1975. Consequently it is argued that much of the changes in the education sector during this period can be attributed to the economic prosperity of Guyana during this period.
However, the debt crisis of the late 1970s and early 1908s had profound implications for the education sector in Guyana. In my next article, I will address these in detail.
History This Week No. 39/ 2009
