Dear Editor,
I extend warm greetings and best wishes to our Guyanese children, here and in the diaspora. I also extend best wishes to children everywhere on the occasion of International Children’s Day.
The twenty-three years that the People’s Progressive Party/Civic was in office saw our children moving rapidly ahead. Education became a right and not a privilege. We achieved universal primary education and we were on the threshold of attaining universal secondary education. We increased not only the quantity of education but also the quality, so much so that we began to produce the top students in the Caribbean. These came from a wide cross-section of schools across the country.
Today, those gains are being threatened. School fees are being heavily taxed. Education materials that were duty and VAT free are now being heavily taxed. This will result in falling standards as well as a loss of access for thousands of children from the low income bracket.
The myopic and callous behaviour of this APNU regime will impact heavily on our economy in the near future. This is so because life has shown us that there is a direct connection between education and socio-economic development.
All parents and all progressive and democratically inclined persons must stand up to this assault on our future. Let us save and protect our children to ensure our sustained development.
Yours faithfully,
Donald Ramotar