Education gets $2.3B more this year
-- aims to meet job requirements & increase incomes
by Chamanlall Naipaul
Guyana Chronicle
March 30, 2004
GOVERNMENT plans to continue making education one of its top priorities this year. Consequently, it has allocated $14.5 Billion to the education sector for 2004 - some $2.3 Billion more than it did for 2003.
This year's education sector allocation will account for 9.4 percent of the country's Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in 2004, up from 8.4 percent or $12.1 Billion in 2003.
In detailing the programme on education in presenting the nation's $75.6 Billion Budget to the National Assembly yesterday afternoon, Finance Minister Saisnarine Kowlessar said priority is being given to curricular and pedagogical reforms, teacher training, recruitment, reducing overcrowding, improving facilities and their management, functional illiteracy among out-of-school youths and institutional strengthening.
"Education and training will remain important components of our strategy for meeting job requirements, increased incomes and breaking the generational cycle of poverty," Minister Kowlessar stressed.
The minister said $790M has been allocated under the Secondary Schools Reform Project to complete emergency repairs to 20 schools across the country, including Port Kaituma Community High, Abrams Zuil Secondary, Anna Regina Multilateral, St. John's Community High, Friendship Community High and East Ruimveldt Secondary School.
The demand for tertiary education has been growing, the minister noted, and in response the Government has expanded distance education, added the Berbice Campus to the University of Guyana (UG) and increased the number of technical and vocational institutes.
Legislation will be introduced to establish a framework for technical and vocational education nationally, Mr. Kowlessar informed the National Assembly, adding that in this regard Government has approached the Caribbean Development Bank for a US$8M loan to increase the infrastructure and improve the technical, managerial and human resource capacities of technical and vocational institutes.
Minister Kowlessar said the proceeds from the CDB loan will be used to train lecturers in specialist areas, including pedagogy and androgogy; upgrade libraries, develop resource centres; provide adequate supplies of materials, tools, equipment and machines for classrooms, workshops and laboratories; rehabilitate and enlarge existing practical instruction centers (PICs); and enhance the teacher training facility of the Government Technical Institute (GTI). In addition, $600M will be used to procure laboratory and scientific facilities for the university campuses at Turkeyen and Berbice.
Under the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) funded Basic Education Access and Management Systems (BEAMS), which was launched last year, over $450M will be used to finance activities in the education sector, including the rehabilitation and construction of schools, purchase of vehicles, furniture and equipment; human resources and institutional strengthening; and the provision of literacy and numeracy programmes.
The minister also informed the National Assembly that educational projects under the Primary Education Project (PEIP), SSRP, Guyana Basic Education Training (GBET) and the Guyana Education Access Programme (GEAP) projects have already "contributed immeasurably to our efforts to address these priorities."