Caretaker President David Granger yesterday afternoon told children of the communities of Hogstye-Lancaster Neighbourhood Democratic Council (NDC) at a back-to-school drive that education is an investment in the future.
The Ministry of the Presidency in a press release said that the event at the Liverpool Community Centre in Region Six saw children from Lancaster, Liverpool, Manchester, Ulverston, Alness, Salton and Hogstye attending. The children were presented with backpacks, bicycles and other items.
“I am happy to be here. The new school year starts soon and it is a good time to distribute school supplies and bicycles. This is not a sideshow; it is central to the investments which are being made within the public education system. Education is the most powerful investment in our future,” the President said, according to the release.
Granger, who was accompanied by First Lady, Sandra Granger, said education is an investment in human skills necessary for a modern economy.
“We have to produce more agronomists, architects, biologists, botanists, chemists, doctors, epidemiologists, engineers, environmentalists, geneticists, geologists, hydrologists, physicists, software developers and zoologists to modernize our country and its industries,” he said.
“Your Government is walking the talk,” he added, noting that Government has attached the highest priority to education by expending more than $170B on education over the past four years.
“Spending in the education sector has moved from 14.8 per cent of the national budget in 2014 to 17.0 per cent in 2017. This year we are spending $52.2 B in the education sector, 15.6 per cent more than last year,” Granger said.
Through the Public Education Transport Service (PETS) which started as the ‘Three Bs programme’; 29 buses, 10 boats and more than 4,000 bicycles have been distributed to make it easier for children to attend school, the release said.
There are five buses providing free transportation in the East Berbice-Corentyne Region. PETS was launched on July 15, 2015.
Granger said that every citizen has a right to education and noted that this constitutional entitlement will be supported by the country’s expected petroleum revenues.
“Our expected petroleum revenues will help us to restore free education in accordance with the injunction of our Constitution at the primary, secondary and tertiary levels. We will launch a ‘Decade of Development’ next year which will ensure, inter alia, that in every village, there must be a school. There is at least one primary school in every village. East Berbice-Corentyne, with a population of 110,000 persons, has 135 villages but only 53 primary schools with 11,00o students,” the President said.
The President’s declaration about the decade of development will raise questions about whether the government is indeed preparing for early elections as mandated by the constitution.
