83% of secondary schools already have counsellors – Education Minister tells APNU

…exposes APNU’s claims of need for guidance counsellors in schools

Education Minister Priya Manickchand has dismissed recent assertions made by A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) candidate Ganesh Mahipaul, stating that guidance and counselling officers are already in place in the vast majority of secondary schools across the country.

The Minister’s remarks seek to counter what she described as misleading claims by Mahipaul, who suggested there was a significant absence of such services in secondary institutions.
Speaking at a campaign rally in Melanie Damishana on the East Coast of Demerara on Sunday, Mahipaul ‘promised’ that if APNU is elected to Government, the party would introduce guidance and counselling officers into schools, saying such interventions would help address social issues among students and reduce crime by tackling root causes early.

“We need to put guidance and counselling officers so that they can start to find the issues at an early stage. We want to have a proper society, and we can reduce the crimes if we tackle it from the root cause,” Mahipaul told supporters at the rally.
However, Manickchand clarified that it has already been done. Rejecting the implication that such support systems are currently absent, Manickchand stated that under the current People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) Government, 97 out of the country’s 117 secondary schools, representing 83 per cent coverage, already have trained guidance and counselling officers.
Taking to her official social media platform on Sunday, Manickchand emphasised, “We have guidance and counselling officers in 97 of our 117 secondary schools currently, and that only happened under the PPP/C after 2020. Some schools have more than one such officer. Where there is no such officer, it is because no one is qualified in the community for the same. But we are currently building living quarters for guidance and counselling officers.”
The Education Minister went further, questioning APNU’s track record and commitment to the education sector during its time in office from 2015 to 2020. She highlighted the previous administration’s failure to build or complete any new secondary school despite an increasing student population and mounting pressure on the education system.
“What he [Mahipaul] failed to explain to you is why the APNU/AFC failed, neglected, and refused to start or finish a single secondary school anywhere in Guyana for their entire five years in office,” Manickchand stated.
Upon taking office in 2020, the PPP/C Government inherited a system struggling to accommodate incoming secondary students. According to Manickchand, at that time, more than 800 students in Georgetown, 700 in Region Three (Essequibo Island-West Demerara), 565 on the East Bank of Demerara, and over 400 on the East Coast of Demerara were unable to be placed in secondary schools due to a severe shortage of space and infrastructure due to APNU’s inability to build any new schools between 2015 and 2020. In addition to this, some schools were demolished but not rebuilt by the APNU/AFC Government. From 2020 to date, the current administration has built and is in the process of building 40 secondary schools.