On a daily basis, there are people and things that make us proud as Guyanese. Even as news percolate in Guyana and around the world of the enormous Guyanese oil resources emanating out of the 1997 Oil agreement with ExxonMobil, there are Guyanese who are excelling across Guyana and around the world. These persons, events and things not only make us proud, but provide a deep well of hope and excitement about our future. This hope is enduring, even if our Government, the Granger-led A Partnership for National Unity/Alliance For Change Administration brings shame to our country on a daily basis.
Young Naila Rahaman recorded a perfect score, 529 out of 529, in the recent National Grade Six Assessment examinations. It was the first time any child achieved a perfect score. Her parents, family and teachers and all of us must be proud. She was not the only success story. Many children from across the country shared her success. Even if we were upset that the Education Minister and her staff delayed the release of the result for more than two weeks and only released it under pressure, we have to feel good about the more than 7000 children that performed to an acceptable standard and the thousands who reached excellent levels. There are concerns that about 50 per cent for English and about 60 per cent for Mathematics failed to reach acceptable standards. But these performances have been improving, even if ever so slowly.
More than 14,000 children will begin secondary school education from September. We are building on our achievement of 100 per cent universal access to secondary education. Considering that in 1990, we had only a 33 per cent access to secondary education, we have to be proud that Guyana stands as one of a handful developing countries with 100 per cent access today. This expansion of secondary education, one that was started by Cheddi Jagan in the early 1960s and which was stagnated under the People’s National Congress was a signal achievement of the People’s Progressive Party Government from 1992 to 2015. It is this expansion that is responsible for seeing the most ever number of our children, like Ashley Anthony, starting out in Ivory-League universities in America, such as Harvard and Yale, this year.
The new President of the American Heart Association (AHA) is Dr Ivor Benjamin. Dr Benjamin grew up in Beterverwagting, East Coast Demerara. The AHA is the world’s leading voluntary organisation dedicated to building healthier lives, free of cardiovascular diseases and stroke. From pioneering frontiers in precision medicine to accelerating drug discovery, the organisation is making significant strides in fulfilling its mission. Dr Benjamin is director of the cardiovascular centre of the Medical College of Wisconsin in Milwaukee. A highly regarded physician-scientist of molecular cardiovascular remodelling, he is a founding member of the Journal of the American Heart Association and currently serves on the editorial boards of Circulation and Circulation Research.
Dr Lomarsh Roopnarine has been awarded the Gordon K and Sybil Lewis Book Award 2018 for his book The Indian Caribbean which was published by the Mississippi Press in 2018. This is one of the annual awards made by the Caribbean Studies Association (CSA). Dr Roopnarine is from Number 72 Village on the Corentyne and is a fellow Corentyne man. Dr Roopnarine is a professor at Jackson State University in New York. He has published several books and is an expert in the Indian experience in the Caribbean from indentured years to present day struggles. Growing up in a farming community and with limited opportunities for secondary education, Dr Roopnarine still was able to achieve remarkable academic successes.
These things and persons are genuine reasons for pride and represent Guyana Strong. Yet we are daily disappointed and ashamed with a government that is clueless and now ranks as one of the most corrupt regimes in the Region; one where misconduct in office is the norm. The latest scandal involving a Minister best known for her “vulgar, boom out” video in Parliament reeks of shame. Her brutish behaviour, lying every day and everywhere, is unbecoming of a Government Minister. Her arrogance is limitless and in this latest episode, she is likely to prevail, while two security guards are likely to lose their jobs for simply doing them. The Minister lied that they pointed guns to her head. It is her words against the camera. It is a brutish world and shame us all. Thank god for those Guyanese that bring pride to us.
