$135.2B Education budget to fund new schools, training for 450,000 persons

The Guyana Government will be injecting $135.2 billion into the education sector for 2024, in furtherance of its drive to realise world-class learning opportunities.
As he announced the sum this week, Finance Minister Dr Ashni Singh told the National Assembly that the education sector is critical to the realisation of national objectives, especially since every single Guyanese person of working age has an adequate opportunity to acquire the skills needed to acquire a job.
The 2024 budgetary allocation contrasts a stark expansion from the $105 billion spent by the education sector to implement the sector’s various initiatives last year.
Resources will be pumped in to expand access by upgrading and expanding infrastructure across the country.
In 2023, several new secondary schools across the country, including Abram Zuil, Good Hope, Yarrowkabra and St Roses High, and annexes at the Bishops’ High and Queen’s College, were completed.
Works were also advanced at Christ Church, Hosororo, Karasabai, North Ruimveldt, North West, St Mary’s, Tuschen and St George’s High.
Construction will continue at these buildings in 2024, and new secondary schools will be built at Aishalton, Christianburg, Jawalla, Kopinang and Micobie. Sums totalling over $16 billion have been allocated for secondary school buildings.
With an allocation of $3.1 billion, Construction of primary schools will begin at Augsburg, Kuribrong, Lake Mainstay, Pennack and Red Creek, among other places.
And nursery schools will be built at Foulis, Mibicuri and Tuschen with the $3 billion allocated for nursery schools.
Moreover, rehabilitative works will be done on dormitories and teachers’ living quarters countrywide.
In total, rehabilitation and maintenance of school buildings and educational facilities will cost some $28.7 billion.
The Finance Minister declared, “Universal primary and secondary education require, at a minimum, adequate places in the school system across the national geography, bearing in mind demographic evolution. Our Government has been, and will continue, investing in adequate schools’ infrastructure, to ensure that every child has a comfortable place in nursery, primary and secondary school.”
Government has mandated that all students must have access to the required textbooks for all subjects. In this regard, 502,072 textbooks will be purchased in 2024 at a cost of $3 billion. In 2023, a total of 619,060 textbooks were procured for the primary and secondary levels at a cost of $3.3 billion.
The “Because We Care” cash grant has also been increased to $45,000, and will benefit 205,305 children, while $3 billion has also been set aside for school grants to purchase classroom necessities.
Another $4.9 billion has been allocated in 2024 to provide juice, biscuits, breakfast, and hot meals to 126,170 children.

Tertiary Education
Government has viewed continued investment in tertiary education as essential to ensuring the adequate availability of specialised skills in the workforce, and also enabling young Guyanese to realise their full potential.
In 2024, a sum of $4.1 billion has been budgeted to support the University of Guyana (UG). At that institution, new programmes will be offered in such areas as food security, cyber security, engineering technologies, biopharma, marine studies, earth and climate sciences, and sports medicine. Works have also commenced on a new Health Sciences Education Building, which will be completed in the first half of 2025.
Under the Guyana Online Academy of Learning (GOAL), 160 new programmes will be introduced in general and vocational, bachelor’s and master’s degrees. An amount of $4 billion has been allocated for GOAL, to support 6,000 new students and 3,967 continuing students.
A total of 7,752 scholarships were awarded in 2023, bringing to 21,442 the total number of scholarships offered thus far, and exceeding the target of providing 20,000 online scholarships. Over the last three years, 3,431 persons have graduated from GOAL programmes.
Meanwhile, a bulk licensing arrangement concluded with COURSERA allows Guyana to train up to 450,000 persons in a wide range of areas where skills’ gaps exist, especially in the public sector, such as childcare and protection, human resources management, mental health, psychology, procurement, and customer service.
Another 1,000 young persons would be trained in relevant aspects of information and communication technology (ICT), to enable them to take up outsourced high-value ICT-based nearshore jobs. This initiative will cost an estimated $735 million over a two-year period.

TVET
Given the trajectory of the Guyanese economy, Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) becomes a higher priority to bridge the skills gap in the labour market and increase employability.
In 2024, the Irfaan Ali-led administration has made provisions for the expansion of training programmes offered for Caribbean Vocational Qualifications from 88 to 111 programmes.
A new TVET policy for the medium term will be developed in the first half of 2024 to define and govern skills development systems for post-secondary, tertiary, formal, non-formal and informal sectors.
Importantly also, in 2024, Phase One of the Guyana Technical Training College (GTTC) at Port Mourant will become operational. A total of 25 students will form the first cohort of students, and will commence specialised factor simulation training in mechanical, electrical and instrumentation engineering.
When completed, in six months’ time, these students will be ready to take up employment in the oil and gas industry. The second batch is expected to be recruited in August, and to their curricula will be added building and construction technology.
Several technical institutions will also be rehabilitated, upgraded, and equipped for skills development in the country.
In this regard, $2.3 billion has been allocated to support technical and vocational interventions. (G12)