As part of its ongoing commitment to providing quality education to all Guyanese students, the Government of Guyana will soon sign contracts for the construction of science laboratories in all secondary schools across the hinterland.
President Dr Mohamed Irfaan Ali made this announcement during the commissioning of the new Brickdam Secondary School on Monday afternoon.
By establishing these laboratories in remote communities, the government intends to further bridge the educational gap between the hinterland and the coastland.
According to the president, this is not about “making science…accessible,” but making it “reachable to students in the hinterland.”
The president said that for far too long, the educational gap has hindered national progress, and that is why significant investments have been made to open up the doors of opportunities.
In fact, President Ali said the majority of schools being constructed under the government’s national education drive are in hinterland communities in Regions One, Seven, Eight and Nine.
And in the next five years, under the new People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) administration, President Ali said an exchange programme will be developed to provide additional learning opportunities.
“We have to be able to have exchange programmes among and between schools so that our children can grow up knowing what all of Guyana feels and looks like,” he said. “That is the type of investment that must match the investments that we are making in infrastructure, buildings and development of human capital.”
The government has made strategic investments over the past five years to develop the human capital in the hinterland.
According to President Ali, this has increased the number of trained teachers in Regions One, Seven, Eight and Nine by 300 per cent. More than 4,300 teachers have been trained in the last five years, and the hinterland has about 2,435 teachers.
Of this number, 83 per cent are fully trained. This represents a significant increase, bringing it from just 43 per cent in 2020.
“This is progress, this is transformation. This is not by chance; it is by choice. The choice we have made as a government to equip our educators, empower our students and elevate our communities,” the president stated.
