Saying education is a core element in Guyana’s transformation, President Irfaan Ali on Monday told a United Nations (UN) forum that his administration would be increasing spending on the sector to 20% of the country’s national budget.
“As part of our efforts to revamp the education system, the government will increase education expenditure to 20 per cent of the national budget and six per cent of the country’s gross domestic product thereby ensuring adequate and sustainable financing for education,” Ali was quoted as saying at the Transforming Education Summit’s Leaders Roundtable, which forms part of the 77th United Nations General Assembly.
Ali also reiterated his government’s commitment to provide free tertiary education by 2025.
According to a Department of Public Information (DPI) report, Ali, who co-chaired the event, stated that investments in education are aimed at unlocking the potential of the country’s students to help them realise their aspirations, while enhancing a repository of skills available for national development.
It noted that in budget 2022, government had allocated $74.4 billion towards transforming the education sector with the aim of providing equitable access to quality education.
“Guyana commits to an inclusive education system, one that leaves no one behind. This entails narrowing access and attainment gaps by ensuring that every school aged child in regions is entitled to a sound primary and secondary education,” Ali was quoted as saying.
The UN says the summit was convened in response to a global crisis in education related to equity and inclusion, quality and relevance. “Often slow and unseen, this crisis is having a devastating impact on the futures of children and youth worldwide,” it explains, while noting that the summit provides a unique opportunity to elevate education to the top of the global political agenda and to mobilize action, ambition, solidarity and solutions to recover pandemic-related learning losses and sow the seeds to transform education in a rapidly changing world.
According to the DPI report, Ali said government is actively addressing the learning loss that occurred during the COVID-19 pandemic. He mentioned that the data from the diagnostic assessment in numeracy and literacy is what is guiding the remedial measures. “Among the measures being planned to recover from the learning losses occasioned by the pandemic are accelerated tutoring services, the creation of a learning platform to bring students back to grade level and an early warning system to identify students at risk of falling behind,” he added.
Guyana, he further said, remains committed to achieving the UN’s sustainable development goal number four, which speaks to quality education.
He noted that this will be done by introducing more in-person tutoring, reforming the national curriculum, extending the use of ICT in education, increasing access to digital and non-digital educational resources and increasing distance education.
The government, Ali also noted, has implemented measures to improve school attendance through the ‘Because we care’ grant, a uniform allowance grant and the implementation of an expanded school nutrition programme to boost classroom attentiveness, school attendance and performance. Additionally, he said there has been continuous training of teachers with the aim of having 100 per cent trained teachers in schools by the end of the decade.
