Who in Guyana hasn’t heard about Queen’s College?? After all, since primary school education is COMPULSORY in our dear land of Guyana, for over a hundred years, every man, woman or child’s predetermined goal has been to get into that institution of learning!! Queen’s – or “QC”, as everyone refers to it – has been the Holy Grail that would be delivered, OR NOT, by Grade 6 (the old Standard 4) by the kids’ performance at the old “Common Entrance” exam; now dubbed Grade 6 Assessment. So, by the age of 12, a Guyanese child is forever defined by whether or not he/she had got into Queen’s. And no matter what they say, all those who fail to get in are seen as a bit of a failure!! Sad, but true!!
Well, QC is celebrating the 180th anniversary of its founding, in 1844, when the good Anglican Bishop of British Guiana established it to educate the sons of the elite who’d been posted to serve in British Guiana – a colony which had been formed just 13 years before by combining the old Dutch colonies of Berbice, Essequibo and Demerara!! Slavery had been abolished just six years before, and the waves of indentured labourers to succeed the slaves on the plantations had been unleashed!! QC then was initially meant to produce rulers, not followers; and it’s not a coincidence that Burnham and Jagan had both gone to Queen’s. As did Walter Rodney, whom Burnham ordered assassinated because he feared the younger QC grad was gunning for his job!! It is a reflection of the importance of QC in the mind of Burnham that he mocked Rodney for his high-jumping prowess – honed at QC – when the latter had to scale fences to escape his goons!!
The enrollment at Queen’s expanded gradually from its start with 11 students at the spot where the High Court now sits. It had a peripatetic existence all over GT, before settling down at its present locale in 1951. WWII was over, and the Brits accepted they’d be relinquishing their rule to locals, whom they wanted to remain subservient. So, admission was expanded then, and rural young men like Sam Hinds from Mahaicony could enter to enjoy the enlarged curriculum that by then had included the natural sciences – rather than only focusing on the classics during Burnham’s days in the 1930s-1940s!!
The other major change came in 1975, when Burnham made Queen’s co-ed. After he anointed himself “Executive President”, he attempted to change the name to “President’s College”!! But, thwarted by the Board, he settled for President’s College at Golden Grove!!
Today, QC still gets first dibs at Grade Six top performers, but several “country schools” have begun to match its performance!!
Democratic education at last?
…Universal Basic Income??
The Opposition’s pushing for a “Universal Basic Income” (UBI) – in which every household, regardless of income, would collect $1 million annually!! What’s the verdict out there?? One view is it’ll increase poverty!!
“UBI takes money from the poor and gives it to everyone, increasing poverty and depriving the poor of much-needed targeted support. People experiencing poverty face a variety of hardships that are addressed with existing anti-poverty measures such as public assistance, medical aid, and child assistance programmes. UBI programmes often use funds from these targeted programmes for distribution to everyone, without regard for need. And effectively redistributes income upward.
“Rather than reducing the overall headcount of those in poverty, UBI would change the composition of the income-poor population”, and thus “would not prove to be an effective tool for reducing poverty,” concludes Research by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).
UBI does not cure addiction, poor health, lack of skills, or other factors that contribute to, and exacerbate, poverty; making UBI less cost-effective than targeted welfare programmes.
…a New World Order?
The beefed-up BRICS+ are meeting in Russia. Putin isn’t mentioning Russia’s “special military operation” in Ukraine. He says discussions would concern “pressing international issues, with a particular focus on the escalating situation in the Middle East”!!
