Oil revenues to ensure free education from nursery to tertiary

…says President Granger at Emancipation Festival

President David Granger on Thursday related that with Guyana’s expected petroleum revenues, citizens will be able to benefit from free education at the primary, secondary and tertiary levels.
The President was at the time addressing attendees at this year’s National Emancipation Festival held at the No 53 Union Village, East Berbice-Corentyne (Region Six).
“Our expected petroleum revenues, apart from what would be devoted to our Sovereign Wealth Fund, will help us to restore education in accordance with our Constitution. Those resources belong to future generations and future generations will benefit and profit from being educated. This would be an educated nation,” the Head of State noted.
Noting that with first oil on the horizon, all citizens benefitting from the opportunity to obtain a good life and free education as enshrined in the Constitution, is one way to ensure a better standard of living.
“[Guyana] must not be a nation of a few rich people and very poor, uneducated people. There must be a school in every village, this national decade of development I speak about must ensure that at least one school is established in every village…I want to see a primary school in every single village. There must be a place for every child in school in Guyana. Every child must be able to get to school by road or by river”.
President Granger said the greatest gift of Emancipation, in his view, is the gift of education. African-Guyanese, he said, have embraced education as a means of providing a better life for themselves, their families, and future generations. They supported the establishment of social institutions for education and religious instruction, including by providing lands for the establishment of churches and schools.
African-Guyanese were pioneers in providing educational opportunities during the last century, the President said, while pointing to Norman Cameron, a Berbician, who was not only a mathematician, historian, educationist, essayist and dramatist, but he established his own school – the Guianese Academy. Similarly, the Costello brothers – Austin, Cosmo and Joseph – established the Tutorial High School which provided education for children of low-income parents among others.
“Access to education created opportunities for the professional development of African-Guyanese. Their presence increased in public education, public administration, public health, public security and public information. Emancipated Africans employed their education to re-construct their world. Education was the gateway to their entry into every field of human endeavour and national life,” President Granger said.
He reminded that African-Guyanese and their descendants have distinguished themselves in academia, agriculture, accounting, the arts, business, diplomacy, education, engineering, law-enforcement, legal services, medicine, politics, the public service, sport and trade unionism and other fields.
The President’s vision is for every child to have access to education. He said no child must be hampered by their parent’s financial inability to send them to school while referencing the Public Education and Transport Service (PETS) that launched four years ago.
President Granger also said that every school student should be taught science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) as the public education system must equip students for the knowledge-based societies of the future.
The Head of State reminded that the first Emancipation covenant won for everyone the right to exist in a society free from enslavement. The ‘Decade of Development’ is the second Emancipation which assures everyone the right to education.
The General Assembly of the United Nations, via Resolutions 68/237 of December 23, 2013, designated the decade January 1, 2015 to December 31, 2024 as the International Decade for the People of African Descent and, by Resolution 69/16 of November 18, 2014, adopted a Programme of activities for the implementation of the International Decade for People of African Descent.
The designation of the ‘International Decade’ acknowledges that Africans were the victims of the greatest crime against humanity and continue to suffer from dispossession and discrimination.
The President said the ‘International Decade’ recognises that people of African descent have not yet fully overcome the legacy of colonial underdevelopment which continues to contribute to their present condition.