Today, the majority of Guyana’s general and specialist doctors, specialist nurses, allied health workers, lawyers, engineers, accountants and other professionals come from what was once termed “Jagan’s Night School.” Cheddi Jagan and the PPP had the vision in the early 1960s to create Guyana’s education infrastructure, which has positioned Guyana in 2024 to not just aspire for developed country status, but to be on the road. Jagan’s “Night School” is one of the most important contributions the PPP has made to the long-term viability of peace, progress and prosperity in our country.
The University of Guyana was a development plan that became a fierce debate in the early 1960s. Cheddi Jagan and the PPP conceptualised, advocated for, and made it happen. The main Opposition was the PNC and its leader, Forbes Burnham. It was Burnham who derogatorily etched the name “Jagan’s Night School” into the annals of the history of UG. Let us never forget this part of our history. It was during the Burnham dictatorship, and in his quest to make his Sophia Declaration of party paramountcy the lighthouse of Guyana’s development, that the PNC completely politicized UG, where its funding was unequivocally linked to loyalty to the PNC and its leader. It was the PNC which denied the great Guyanese intellectual Dr. Walter Rodney the opportunity to lecture at UG. Others can also say the same. Just ask Dr. Rupert Roopnarine or Paul Tennessee.
It therefore is unfathomable to listen to MP Coretta McDonald haranguing in Parliament, during the first day of the debate over Budget 2024, that Budget 2024 is an attack on UG; that the PPP Government, through Budget 2024 and public utterings of VP Bharrat Jagdeo, is waging war against UG. While many of us might feel that UG has to “up” its game, we also are very proud of its achievement. None of us would ever doubt that UG has lived up to the vision of Cheddi Jagan and our expectations. Coretta McDonald is wrong on all fronts when it comes to UG.
For one, MP McDonald queried why the Government limited the subsidy to UG to $4B, insisting that the investment in GOAL should be considerably less than what the investment in UG is. My understanding of what she wants is that the $4B allocated for GOAL could be better spent if all or most were to be added to the UG subvention. She ignored the many other investments being made to UG through the Government. Budget 2024 also caters for the forgiveness of all loans owed to UG and the Government. Those billions foregone help to ease the burden on students, and will allow more students to attend university. By next year, as clearly articulated by the President, the VP and the Minister of Education, and as promised in the PPP’s Election 2020 manifesto, UG will be free of cost for all students. This is a Government committed to UG.
But the presentation sent me scurrying to the budget books. Budget 2024 allocated more than $4B directly to UG, and also provided for the forgiveness of loans owed by students to UG, and that was provided to UG through the revolving loan arrangement between the Ministry of Finance and UG. The loans borrowed by students do not come out of UG’s revenues; they come from the revolving fund, which is usually replenished by the MoF.
Contrast the PPP’s actions in support of UG with MP McDonald’s party. In 2019, UG’s subvention was $2.5B. Budget 2024’s allocation for UG is $4B, or 60% more than the 2019 allocation. When the loan forgiveness is added, Budget 2024 is more than double that of Budget 2019. But in 2014, the last full year the PPP was in Government before the PNC-led APNU/AFC took over the Government, the subvention to UG was $827M. In 2015, under APNU/AFC, the subvention was reduced to about $500M. Who really has supported UG? How is doubling the subsidy an attack on UG? MP McDonald is trying to boondoggle, trying to falsify the records of two governments with contrasting histories when it comes to UG.
MP McDonald’s party cannot escape the fact that they betrayed UG and the students at UG. They promised the students in 2015 that, should they get into Government, they would eliminate all fees at UG within their first 100 days. That promise was made on the platforms across the country. It was in their Election 2015 manifesto.
They failed to keep their promise. They increased the tuition fees by more than 70% in 2016. They also increased the non-tuition fees, and even introduced some new ones. Which political party has attacked UG? MP McDonald must tell us how increasing the subsidy is an attack on UG. She must tell us how keeping our promise, such as the promise to make the university free, is an attack on UG. The PPP is finalizing arrangements to make UG free, as we promised in our manifesto. The PNC-led APNU/AFC increased their fees, when they promised to eliminate the fees.
Do not forget also that hundreds of students today are attending UG free through PSM scholarships. The 2023-2024 number of scholarships is more than double the number from 2019-2020. Who therefore supports UG? Who attacks UG? There are presently more than 100 post-graduate scholarships for specialist medicine and nursing programmes. These were started under the PPP, and are increased only when the PPP is in office. MP McDonald was dishonest when she addressed Parliament and when she addressed the nation. We saw her, we heard her, we know the truth. The University of Guyana, the same university MP McDonald’s hero Forbes Burnham once dubbed “Jagan’s Night School”, is here to stay, and will continue to flourish under the PPP.
