Ms. Priya Manickchand is doing a great job as Minister of Education

Dear Editor,
I was in Guyana two weeks ago and visited several communities from Parika, East Bank Essequibo to Black Bush Polder on the Corentyne. At one of my visits on the East Coast (Annandale) a former WPA member who keeps up to date with Guyana’s social and economic development, reinforced his position: “since the 2020 elections, numerous ‘experts’ have emerged in every sector of Guyana’s economy.” I write regularly on Guyana’s development, but I always consider myself a student and never an expert on any subject, though I concede that my friend has a strong point.
There have been several letters written on the mix up of a GOAL program supposedly offered by the University of Staffordshire through a third party called ISDC. As it turned out, the scholarship awardees were wrongly “led to believe that the ISDC was offering courses through the University of Staffordshire, UK.” In trying to clarify this problem, Professor Jacob Opadeyi, Director of GOAL, who is an eminent scholar, emphasizes: “What I know is I attended a meeting at Staffordshire University and ISDC before the agreement was done and we agreed to work together……the change in administration or leadership caused this.”(SN: 3/7/2025)
Recognizing the need for a speedy resolution, Professor Jacob Opadeyi terminated the ISDC program and removed Staffordshire University from any award option. Though the Minister of Education oversees GOAL and other programs, directors and managers handle actual administration; the minister focuses on policy making and delegating tasks. So, why the call for the minister’s resignation over a mistake attributed to GOAL Secretariat?
Mr. Jamil Changlee of CRG has inexplicably called upon the subject minister to resign, and has opened old wounds of the past to lend credibility to his position. The Minister of Education had no control over the Mahdia fire tragedy. It was a student who allegedly set the dorm on fire. Furthermore, the dorm was under the supervision of the Ministry of Local Government and Regional Development. Much has been written about the Mahdia tragedy and there is no need to replicate this. Suffice to say that the findings of the COI refutes Mr. Changlee’s contention. And if anyone can open old wounds to justify his position, then where would this approach end?
Going down that road, I cite only two of many examples. Did Mr. Changlee condemn and call for the resignation from Parliament of a prominent PNCR MP who seized the Speaker’s Mace in the full view of the public? That act struck at the heart of the democratic process? Again, did Mr Changlee ask the former PNCR Minister of Finance to resign when he (Minister) said that he thought the $(US) 18 million oil bonus was a gift and which they concealed for over a year?
As someone who also follows development in the education sector, I had four separate discussions with residents at Leonora, Bladen Hall, Annandale, and Black Bush Polder, and they all have deep respect for the work of the subject minister. I have not encountered any diaspora in the Greater Richmond Hill region, New York, that does not respect her work.
The subject minister was duly elected as part of a Party List by the Guyanese people and no expert, or any opposition group could de-elect her based on a problem which she did not create, but in which she demonstrated leadership by having the Director of GOAL work assiduously to resolve the problem.

Sincerely,
Dr Tara Singh