Minister of Finance Dr Ashni Singh has signed two agreements with the World Bank that will support Guyana’s education and agriculture sectors with funding totalling US$21 million.
According to a press release from the Ministry of Finance, the agreement was signed in Washington last week with Director of the Caribbean Country Management Unit of the World Bank Sophie Sirtaine.
In the education sector, a loan of US$10 million will support increased enrollment in general secondary schools and improve standards of mathematics teaching for secondary education, the release said. In the agriculture sector, the US$11 million loan will support the implementation of a flood risk management programme.
The release said the US$10 million in support of the Secondary School Improvement Programme forms part of the Government of Guyana’s long-term initiative to achieve universal secondary education by 2016. About 85 per cent of young Guyanese are enrolled in secondary education. Guyana has already achieved universal p
rimary education in keeping with the UN Millennium Development Goal, it noted.
Meanwhile, in the agriculture sector, more than 300,000 people along the flood prone East Coast Demerara will benefit from reduced flooding and climate risks as a result of the US$11 million loan which forms part of the International Development Association (IDA) approved by the World Bank, the release said.
Speaking at the signing, Singh said that the two projects form part of the government’s ongoing effort to ensure improved standard of living for all Guyanese.
“The Government of Guyana has over the years demonstrated a firm commitment to education as a national priority and views access to a quality education as vital to the development of our country’s youth and to the general development of Guyana,” he was quoted as saying with regard to the education loan agreement.
Meantime, as regards the agriculture sector loan, the minister was quoted as saying: “The Government of Guyana is working to ensure that measures are put in place to ensure that the floods of 2005 and such destruction to both human and physical resources never occur again.”
The release said that among the concrete results to be achieved by two projects are:
2,600 new students from vulnerable areas enrolled in general secondary schools.
A pilot technology-assisted learning in mathematics.
600 secondary mathematics teachers trained, mathematics standards for secondary school teachers increased, and math kits distributed to 250 secondary schools.
Upgrade critical sections of the East Demerara Water Conservancy dams and channels.
Improve drainage capacity in priority areas along the East Demerara coast.
Increase flood preparedness by installing instruments to monitor hydro-meteorological data.
“On behalf of the Government of Guyana, I would like to extend my gratitude for the support of the World Bank towards these two important sectors which government views as vital to the development of Guyana,” the release quoted Minister Singh as saying at the signing. “These agreements serve to reinforce the commitment of the current governing administration towards the demonstrable development of Guyana’s infrastructural and social sectors.”
