Dear Editor,
During the last elections campaign, one would recall President David Granger was a strong advocate of strengthening and improving the country’s education system, or in other words, his emphasis was more so on the quality of education. The philosophy of this agenda was centred on the notion that education is the underlying pillar of economic growth and prosperity.
An examination of the history of economic development of Singapore revealed that about fifty years ago, this country was an undeveloped country with a GDP per capita of less than US$320. This country is now one of the world’s fastest growing economies with a GDP per capita at an incredible US$60,000, making it the sixth highest in the world, according to Central Intelligence Agency figures. For a country with no territory and natural resources, the economic ascension of this country can only be characterized as remarkable. By embracing free market capitalism, globalization, education, and strict pragmatic policies the country was able to become a global leader in commerce by overcoming its geographic disadvantages.
No country or government in the world is able to practically offer education services to 100 per cent of the population through public/state owned schools and universities. In many of the advanced economies private educational institutions outnumber the state owned. Additionally, the private schools and universities in several countries earned an evidentiary based reputation of producing most of the top students and providing higher quality education.
Refocusing on our country, Guyana, we have seen over the last few years private schools across the country churn out most of the top performing students at the Caribbean Secondary Schools Examinations.
In an attempt to defend this tax measure, the Finance Minister posited that parents of students have a choice, stating that public education is free. This response seems to have omitted the fact that should such an approach be pursued, the public schools would not be able to accommodate all these students and hence, it is not practical.
Another point of interest which can be deduced from this tax measure is that it appears the central government is competing in the education sector. Such a move should not be what a government’s fundamental role should be, ie, to create the framework that fosters and supports higher quality education and at affordable costs, regardless whether it’s private or public. By increasing the cost of private education, specifically at the tertiary level, could potentially lead to inaccessibility of this service by a large number of potential students. Again, from a pragmatic standpoint, the University of Guyana is the only national tertiary level academic educational institution in Guyana and thus it cannot by any means serve the entire population of the country. Hence private institutions at this level are imperative.
Investing heavily in education and at the same time ensuring it is affordable and accessible to all, would serve as the underlying factor in respect of being the catalyst of the economic prosperity of the nation.
Readers would have recognized the reference made to Singapore earlier as a benchmark country. It is a country that had ironically gained independence around the same time as Guyana and has become one of the most economically stable and prosperous countries in the world. Serving as the catalyst of this phenomenon was the investment in education that brought it where it is today. It does not impose any VAT per se on private schools and universities.
Against this backdrop, our policy-makers and political leaders are therefore strongly encouraged to seek to adopt a model akin to this. Consider abandoning the tax measure imposed upon private education and allow this paradigm to be the enabler that will reshape the economy in terms of propelling expansive economic growth.
And lastly, education is a basic right. Thus increasing the cost of education to a certain section of the populace could be interpreted as denying persons this basic and fundamental right.
Yours faithfully,
(Name and address provided)
