GOAL’s success is testimony to astute planning and leadership

Dear Editor,
Guyana’s pathway to a quality life for all is predicated on wise investment in its people, and I see an example of this in the case where “ … over 7,500 more persons (were) awarded GOAL scholarships.” The news that “Over 7,000 Guyanese will benefit from free, quality education through the Guyana Online Academy of Learning (GOAL) programme” is most indicative of Guyana’s upward mobility, which is something quite noticeable.
The word from Senior Minister in the Office of the President with Responsibility for Finance and the Public Service, Dr. Ashni Singh, is that “… approval has been granted for 7,782 GOAL Scholarships and that the successful applicants will be informed by email over next week.” And what is noteworthy is the continuity of the GOAL programme, as this “… approval follows on the heels of the graduation, just two weeks ago, of the second batch of students numbering 1,712 who completed their studies in various disciplines including masters and degree programmes.” And for sure, as the Minister pointed out, all of this is “… in keeping with efforts to foster academic, (and) technical skills to match the country’s exponential growth.”
Editor, I emphasize that education really does transforms lives and is at the heart of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization’s (UNESCO’s) mission to build peace, eradicate poverty and drive sustainable development in a global manner. It is also a human right for all throughout life, and this right can now be easily enjoyed in Guyana. This Organization, by the way, is the only United Nations agency with a mandate to cover all aspects of education. It has been entrusted to lead the Global Education 2030 Agenda through Sustainable Development Goal 4, which is about quality education and is among the 17 Sustainable Development Goals established by the United Nations in September 2015. (The full title of SDG 4 is “Ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all”).
I expand further by stating that education is the basic building block of every society. It is the single best investment countries can make to build prosperous, healthy and equitable societies. Article 26 of the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights states that “Everyone has the right to education.” It is truly “… a passport to human development that opens doors and expands opportunities and freedoms.
Getting back to Guyana, the report was quite succinct “The GOAL initiative is in keeping with the People’s Progressive Party/Civic PPP/C) The government’s commitment to improve the country’s educational and skills training capacity to match its aggressive economic diversification programme and continued rapid economic growth. In fact, the government has already surpassed its Manifesto promise of providing 20,000 online scholarships, with almost 21,500 scholarships provided by the end of 2023.”
This is very remarkable, and now there can be ‘no excuse’ proffered for a lack of education.
I note that Dr. Ashni Singh touched on this as he was speaking at the recent graduation ceremony (at the Arthur Chung Conference Centre (ACCC) last month). According to him, “What GOAL does is that it still gives them (Guyanese) the option to pursue higher technical and tertiary education were they so too desire using the online modality of delivery. It also offers a wider range of training options … as the government is creating an environment where everyone can explore several opportunities that are being created so that the country can continue its rapid development … as all these are all elements of human capital development and improving the skills of the Guyanese workforce and population, to have a better skilled and qualified labour force as well as to have a more fulfilled population.”
I need not elaborate anymore, as I think that no one can doubt how important education and training are, and of course quite expensive. But the good news is that there was the recent launch of the “Guyana-Coursera Platform” and the Government Student Loan Write Off Programme (which will) potentially benefit over 13,000 Guyanese who have $11 billion in student loan debt.” These two moves will lend impetus to the education drive in Guyana, as it is in the most valuable domain, that is, in human capital.
Kudos to those behind this drive and those capitalising on it.

Yours truly,
HB Singh.