Constraints

III. Description of the Principal Issues and Constraints Facing the
Sector
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A. Sector-wide Issues
This section describes the principal issues that affect the functioning of the educational
system at all levels, from nursery to tertiary education.
1. Financing of Education
The enviable reputation established by Guyana in the 1960s as having one of the best
educational systems in the Caribbean was based in large measure on a system of private and
public schools, and payment of tuition fees.
Even in the Government-owned secondary schools at the time, fees had to be paid by non-
scholarship holders, albeit these were not set on a full cost-recovery basis. In the privately
owned schools even at the primary level, fees were paid.
After all schools were brought under State control in 1976, fees were abolished for all levels
of education. Shortly thereafter, both the quality of and access to education began to suffer.
During this period two developments occurred. First, education came to be viewed as a public
good, with public entitlement to it, free of charge. Second, due to financial stringency, there
was a steady reduction of the ability of the Government to meet growing public expectations
for full access to education at all levels that was free and high in quality. Declining public
financial allocation since the late 1970s have caused both quality and accessibility to
seriously slip.
Developing countries' expenditure on education as a share of total Central Government
expenditure in the 1989-1992 period are illustrated in the following data:
Africa 15.7%
Asia 14.0%
Middle East 14.3%
Western Hemisphere 13.9%
Global average 13.0%
Guyana 5.5%
(Source, except for Guyana: World Bank, Latvia Public Expenditure Review, 1994.)
In 1994, the corresponding figure for Guyana had improved slightly to 5.8 percent(3)
, still far short of norms for the hemisphere and the world.
2. Balance Between Different Levels of Education
Studies in many countries have demonstrated that the returns to the nation are greatest from
investments in primary education, yet data from a recent year show that public expenditures

on education in Guyana were running at US$26 per primary student, US$54 per secondary
student, and US$858 per university student. Strenuous efforts are needed to redirect
spending patterns so that a greater priority is accorded to primary education, emphasising
the outlying regions as much as the capital city and its environs.
3. Excessive Concentration on Elite Education
Over one-quarter of current resources for secondary education is allocated to one school
(President's College) and to subsidies for the CXC examination. The CXC examinations are
taken by only about 5 percent of the 15-19 age cohort. President's College has a student-
teacher ratio of only 8.8:1, and it is attended by only about 2 percent of secondary school
students. Therefore, recent patterns in educational spending show a distinct bias in favor of
the students who are academically more advanced, many of whom come from families that
are capable of defraying part of the cost of their children's education.
This phenomenon is part of a larger syndrome in which educational expenditures do not
contain an element of targeting on the most needy students. It must be recognised that
provision of free education amounts to a fiscal subsidy. Although it is a very important
subsidy from all viewpoints it does not necessarily follow that it should be conferred in equal
measure on students from all levels of family wealth. Better targeting of educational
expenditures in this sense would enable the existing levels of funding to be more effectively
used for raising the quality of education.
4. Inequities in Access to Education
On a regional basis, there are wide variations in spending per pupil, as illustrated by the
range from US$31 per pupil in Regions 5 and 6 to US$136 per pupil in Region 8, in a recent
year. For the most part, these regional inequalities imply that Amerindian children, and also
non-Amerindians of the rural hinterland, are given relatively less attention by the school
system. The problem is exacerbated by higher rates of absenteeism on the part of teachers in
hinterland areas.
An inequitable pattern is emerging in another sense in that families who are able to afford the
cost of private tutoring increasingly have recourse to that option. Families of the lower-
income strata are unable to provide this benefit, and so their children become disadvantaged
educationally.
5. Quality of Education
In the review of specific issues discussed in this section, it needs to be borne in mind that the
overriding concern at the level of the entire educational sector is for improving the quality of
education, i.e., improve the process by which children and youths learn. Making such
improvement will require an array of measures, ranging from improvements in salaries and
training for teachers to curricular changes and improvements in physical plant, and to
promotion of greater community involvement in schools, each of which is discussed in turn,
but this central concern should not be lost sight of.
6. Gender Sensitivity
Issues of gender sensitivity are present at all levels of education in Guyana. For example, few
female students specialise in the areas of science and technology, despite the fact that boys
and girls are required to be involved in all subject areas up to Form 3 (Grade 9).
The large drop-out rate of male students could be related to the fact that there is an
overwhelming majority of females in the teaching profession. Due to the fact that males and
females have different learning styles, approaches that take these differences into account
need to be developed.

7. Administration of Education
The programmes finally implemented by the Regional Administration sometimes deviate
significantly from the plans and programme of activities initially set by the Ministry of
Education, in conjunction with the Regional Education Department. The lack of current
baseline data grossly affects the planning process. Definite and systematic budgetary
monitoring procedures should be instituted to ensure both the direction and magnitude of
the annual expenditure by education level and region.
Apparent gaps of administrative logic in the current structure of the relationships between
the Central Ministry, the Regional Education Department, and Regional Democratic Councils,
are putting to test the capacity of the educational system to effectively absorb the recent
surges of capital and technical assistance inflows from bilateral and multilateral agencies.
Also, planning at the regional level must of necessity include those officials serving in the
respective communities.
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B. Issues Specific to Levels of Education
1. Pre-school Children Care
The demand for day care and play school facilities in terms of formal request has risen
significantly, particularly in Georgetown and arguably in other urban centres. While the
problem may not be as acute in the rural areas, hard data to base any type of planning of
facilities are scarce to come by.
Furthermore, the provision of day care and play school facilities is not within the competence
of the Ministry of Education. However, there is a logical link between the day care and the
play school systems on one hand, and the formal schooling system on the other, particularly
at the entry level of nursery education. Given this nexus, all concerned stand to gain by at
least exchanging views and reaching broad agreements on the relationships between the two,
in order to ease the transition from one stage to the other and to enhance the level of comfort
of the new entrants into the schooling system.
2. Nursery Level Education
The two-year programme at the nursery level is designed to provide young children with a
learning environment that will facilitate their physical, social, emotional, and intellectual
development, as well as the development of basic skills and desirable attitudes to learning.
However, its curriculum is quite inadequate in its attempt to address the more sensitive
issues of life. It also falls short of permitting pupils to validate themselves in the context of the
peculiar behaviourial expectations that are rooted in the norms, values, and mores of the
various sub-cultures in the society. For example, the majority of Guyanese children speak
home languages that are different from the official language of the country, and unless this
fact is recognised, the literacy and language problems which characterises our school-age
children at present will continue.
A primary concern is the inadequacy of the learning environment at this first level in the rung
of the educational ladder. It is evident that existing facilities -except in the private sector- are
highly unsatisfactory. Few schools are purpose-built to reflect nursery school activities under
tropical conditions. Many schools are damp, easily flooded, unsanitary, lacking in furniture

and material resources, and manned by inadequately trained staff. Far too often rented
bottom houses and dilapidated community buildings are defined as nursery schools. While
proper profiles on these facilities are lacking, it is recognised that the situation is even more
acute in the hinterland and riverain areas.
Overcrowding exists, especially in Georgetown schools, due to parents' requests that children
should be placed in schools near to their place of work rather than home, and due to parents'
perception that some nursery schools are linked to "good" primary schools.
The Government's school feeding programme, supported by the World Food Programme, is
not fully accessed, particularly in areas where nutritional deficiency is more pronounced.
Forty percent of the children in this category have no access to vital supplements. The
percentage can be as high as 60 percent in the riverain and hinterland areas.
3. Primary Level Education
The schools with successful track records are experiencing a growing overcrowding, while
the ones with poor records are underpopulated. This has created gross imbalances in the
demand and supply of the educational facilities. The persistence of this gross imbalance is
based on the parents' and pupils' perceptions of the performance or non-performance of
individual schools as measured by SSEE. It may be questioned whether the SSEE should be
retained. A more effective substitute would be a system of continuous student assessment
and performance norms for each grade level.
Because of the pivotal role of primary education in regard to eventual access to higher
education, and subsequently to the job market, access to primary education has been
identified as critical to poor families, indigenous peoples, and marginal workers. As noted
above, State funding for education has failed in the past to reflect the priority of primary
education. In most developing countries, primary education accounts for 40 to 50 percent of
total spending on education, but in Guyana that share has been running at about 27 percent.
The apparent wide ranging differences in the curriculum offered at various primary schools
throughout the system also is a source of much concern.
Other basic concerns at this level are the need for increased instructional time, the need to
promote more faithful attendance by pupils, the need for improved provision of instructional
materials, the need to improve facilities, and the need for greater parental and community
involvement in the schools. Head teachers should be given training regarding the relationship
between school and community.
4. Secondary Level Education
Given the three-part structure of the secondary programme and the use of the SSEE to screen
students entering from the primary level, over 50 percent of the nation's eleven year olds are
directed into schools with programmes of shorter duration than the GSS, which have a
majority of under-qualified and untrained teachers, poor buildings and learning environment.
In this respect, a strategic concern that merits review is the present structure under which a
child's education fate is sealed at the end of primary school, when the examination results
determine whether his or her future track will be academic or vocational. Jamaica has already
begun to modify that rigid system, allowing for a child to reenter the academic track in
secondary school. Given that there are "late bloomers" in any system, the present structure
may be shunting aside potential academic talent.
A growing number of students, especially boys in the secondary department of the primary
programme and the CHS, are dropping out by grade 9 (before the completion of basic
education).

A secondary school curriculum, and general methodology are driven by the examination
process and not by an overriding concern to stimulate and encourage critical thinking and
optimise assimilation of material. As a consequence, the evaluation mechanism which
monitors the reliability and consistency of the teaching-learning process has been deficient.
The persistent shortage of secondary school teachers has created a situation whereby half of
the secondary school teaching staff is employed on a part-time basis. Although salaries were
increased in 1994, conditions of service remain uncompetitive with respect to the packages
offered by the local private sector and opportunities abroad. The net result is an increase of
the syndrome of extra-curricular lessons throughout Guyana. This phenomenon partly
explains the poor response of pupils to both co- and extra-curricular activities planned by the
management of schools.
The core curriculum, in these days of globalisation and informatics, fails to provide students
with basic computer literacy and foreign language competence.
Other key issues are similar to those of the primary schools: The need for greater parent and
community involvement, for rehabilitation of facilities, and provision of better instructional
materials.
5. Training of Teachers
Teachers' training is presently conducted at the specialist institution, the Cyril Potter College
of Education (CPCE) and at the Faculty of Education in the University of Guyana (FEUG).
While the primary role of the CPCE is on training, that of the FEUG goes beyond initial
training into teachers' education more generally. These two institutions, however, work
closely with each other, aided by the oversight function of the Ministry of Education.
The hinterland teachers training programme should be reviewed to include more pedagogical
and "whole person" training. Also, all programmes should benefit from close coordination
and links with the University, and CPCE's role as moderator in certifying teachers should be
clarified and reinforced. At present, there are no distance training programmes; they would
be especially helpful for teachers in the hinterland but for others as well.
Some provision should be made to licence those teachers who have obtained their training at
institutions other than CPCE and/or FEUG.
The lack of adequate number of suitably qualified applicants has caused the CPCE and the
Faculty of Education to lower their entry requirements. The high demand for graduates from
these institutions has often permitted graduates to be recruited to teach at higher levels in
the system than that for which they were trained.
With regard to the Inspectorate, a common instrument should be developed for the
assessment of teachers, which could be integrated into the strategies for teachers' training.
The Inspectorate should be given enough resources to fund its full complement of specialists,
since it has a particularly important role with respect to both teachers' assessments and the
improvement of curriculum at classroom level.
Educational priorities should be taken into account in light of the present financial
constraints and the increased tendency of the Ministry of Finance to manage line ministries in
their attempt to perform the responsibilities for overall resource coordination and
management.
Teachers' training is relatively costly to Government because of the low student-teacher ratio
and the fact that it is extensively subsidised. A priority must be to improve its cost-
effectiveness. As well as using methods of distance education, other steps can be taken, such
as shortening the programmes and increasing their variety and frequency.

6. University Education
The University of Guyana is currently in crisis, which is the cumulative result of many years of
inattention to physical plant and deterioration of the quality of instruction. The university
needs to mobilise more financial resources and improve the management of its existing
resources. In other words, the university needs to improve its capacity for financial
management and to increase its cost effectiveness, although the intensity of this latter need
varies by faculty.
The university records highlight a strong student bias to enroll for the social sciences and the
arts and avoid technology and natural sciences. Given the current demand for engineers and
technicians, it is critical to raise the enrollment in these latter areas either directly at the
University or indirectly in special contractual arrangements.
Another important issue in university education is the lack of alternatives in Guyana. Some
countries in the region have encouraged North American universities to establish small
branches in those countries, in some cases with undergraduate programmes and in other
cases with specialised masters' programmes. Malaysia has taken a similar step recently. In
this way the offerings of the national university are complemented and the student has wider
range of choices without incurring the expense of traveling abroad.
7. Technical Vocational Education and Training (TVET)
Given that it is the private sector which requires the occupational skills generated through
TVET, it has a legitimate role in its financing and management and also, eventually, in
providing it. A few industries now provide their own training programmes, but they are
primarily for a narrow range of skills needed by those industries. In general, the quality of
TVET and its responsiveness to labour demand conditions need to be improved. Chapter 35
of this National Development Strategy presents policies for increasing the financing of TVET,
mainly via a small payroll tax, and for increasing the involvement of both labour and the
business sector, through the establishment of a tripartite council to manage those funds.
Specific situations at the earlier levels of education, for example, arbitrary and incorrect
allocation to subjects by gender, frequently work against female students entering the field of
technical education. A distinction needs to be made between life skills courses and vocational
offerings, as for instance, home economics. The current approach discourages students from
acquiring such life skills which would contribute to their self sufficiency and future role as
parents. A UNESCO funded project at Lodge and Ruimveldt Community Secondary Schools
addressed this situation by placing effective female teachers to instruct on applied, technical
subjects, thus altering the stereotypical role model.
8. Special Needs Education
The term special needs is used to refer to slow learners and children with learning
disabilities, emotional learning difficulties, and physical handicaps. Presently in Guyana there
are three schools dedicated to children with special needs. These are: David Rose School,
Saint Barnabas School, and the Sophia Special School. Four other schools have a classroom
dedicated to children with special needs. One is at Saint Roses High School, and it caters to the
blind. The other three are the South Ruimveldt Park Primary School, Diamond Primary
School, and the New Amsterdam Primary School. These facilities are meant to respond to all
levels of children with disabilities.
A Committee within the Ministry of Education, chaired by the Principal of the David Rose
School, deals with all matters relating to curriculum and physical facilities, in conjunction
with the Planning Department.

Considering the limited physical facilities available, it could be presumed that most special
needs children are either in regular schools or at home, and thus their special education
needs are unmet in the educational system of today. For some of them, the mainstream
schools contribute more to the destruction of their self esteem and to their feelings of
worthlessness and hopelessness, than to literacy and numeracy.
9. Adult Literacy Programmes
As a consequence of the decline of educational standards in recent decades, there is now a
significant number of adults who are illiterate, or at least not functionally literate. There has
not been enough emphasis on adult literacy campaigns, in order to enable these persons to
participate more fully in our society.
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C. Constraints
1. General Constraints
a. In spite of an upward trend in recent years, budgetary allocations to education still are far
from adequate. As noted in the preceding section, the share of the Central Government budget
devoted to education is less than half of the corresponding average for all developing
countries. Although there is room for improvement in the efficiency of expenditures in the
sector, this budgetary circumstance leads to many deficiencies, including teachers' salaries
that in general are too low to attract and retain the most qualified staff, an insufficiency of
instructional equipment and materials, absenteeism of teachers, deteriorated physical plants,
etc.(4)
b. The tradition, for the past twenty years, of relying exclusively on the public sector to
provide education has meant the country has foregone opportunities for the private sector to
participate in providing it efficiently and to high standards, as it once did.
c. The levels of training for many of the teachers are inadequate, especially in the hinterland
regions.
d. The relative lack of amenities in many hinterland areas makes it more difficult to recruit
teachers for those posts.
e. There has not been a strong tradition of involvement in the schools by parents and
communities, although there has been an increasing trend in this regard. Experience
worldwide has shown that such involvement tends to raise the quality of instruction, reduce
student absenteeism, help improve the condition of physical plant, and assist in identifying
supplementary sources of financing for schools.
f. There is an overwhelming majority of females in the teaching profession, and hence a
relative lack of role models for boys.
g. There is no systematic socio-economic information about students' families.
2. Constraints Specific to Levels of Schooling and Functions
In addition to the aforementioned general constraints, which affect education at all levels,
there are a number of additional constraints which are specific to each level. They are as
follows:

a. In the administration of education:
i) Shortage of skilled manpower
ii) Poor conditions of service
iii) Inadequate centre and regional interface
iv) Poor communication facilities
v) Inadequate data to monitor budget, enrollments, and school and teacher performance
vi) Poor regional department/school interface
b. Regarding pre-school care of children, the provision of day care and play school facilities is
not within the competence of the Minister of Education.
c. In nursery level education:
i) There is a persistence on the part of some teachers and many parents to present the
curriculum in a subject-centred mode.
ii) The lack of data in the Ministry of Education on the demand for nursery schools, by region,
is a major constraint to the planning and development of additional facilities.
d. In primary education:
i) A significant number of teachers have no curriculum guide to follow while others only have
limited access to these basic support documents.
ii) The curriculum is dominated by the drive to prepare the students for the SSEE and even
this is at times done without a curriculum guide.
iii) In many instances, educational programmes are not articulated to facilitate smooth
transitions, both at the nursery input level and the later secondary output levels.
iv) Not enough teaching is being done in most classrooms, and teachers are overloaded with
clerical work.
v) Funding at this level is exceptionally low, well below that of other Caribbean countries on a
per-pupil basis.
e. In secondary education:
i) Lack of instructional supervision for teaching staff and relatively poor quality in the
administration of the system at this level.
ii) Lack of structural and regular staff development programmes for both teaching staff and
regional supervisory officers.
iii) The condition of the physical plants is poor and there is persistent shortage of equipment
(science, audio visual, technical, and sports equipment), and textbooks, library books, and
teaching aids, especially in the CHS and the secondary departments of primary schools.
iv) The distribution of secondary level funding is clearly skewed to subsidising the CXC
examination and President's College, leaving even fewer funds per student for the other
schools.

f. In teachers' training:
i) Large unsatisfied backlog of needs for teachers' training, in order to bring the quality of
present staffs up to acceptable standards.
ii) Lack of coordination of effort between CPCE, NCERD, the Education Faculty of the
University of Guyana, and IACE in the preparation of teachers for the educational system.
iii) Poor conditions of service (including salaries) for teachers' educators, and a shortage of
trained teachers' educators.
iv) Shortage of full-time staff at CPCE and at the in-service centres.
v) Inadequate focus on the impact of sensitive issues on the development of children in the
curriculum of teacher's training.
vi) Absence of continuous evaluation of teacher training programmes.
g. At the University of Guyana:
i) Student-teacher ratios that are very low in some faculties, raising the unit costs of
instruction.
ii) Weak capacity in financial management in the university's administration.
iii) Although salaries have improved, they still remain less attractive than private sector
salaries. Many lecturers have been forced to pursue outside opportunities at the expense of
their students.
iv) An observed decline in the quality of the first-year students entering the University over
the last decade, which has caused growing concern.
h. In technical vocational education and training:
i) Insufficient volume of TVET in relation to the growing needs of industry and commerce.
ii) TVET curriculums that are not fully attuned to the requirements of employers.
iii) Lack of mechanisms for wider private sector participation in funding the costs of TVET.
i. In special needs education:
i) Adequate provisions have not been made in the existing schooling system for children with
special needs.
ii) There are insufficient data on the total numbers, spatial distribution, school levels,
classification of special needs children in the system. Some research is being done by the
Community Based Rehabilitation Programme on these issues, but the results are not available
yet.
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IV. Sectoral Objectives
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A. Philosophy
In reviewing the evolution of educational policy in Guyana, emphasis should be put on the
importance of pursuing a more radical approach to arrest any further decay of the current
educational system and its outputs. In this regard, reference is made to two international
meetings of immense importance to the development of the education sector as a whole, an
children in particular. The first is the 1990 World Summit for Children, held in September
1990. Seventy-one heads of State met under the auspices of UNICEF and agreed to seek
substantial improvements in the situation of women and children by the year 2000. With this
goal in mind Guyana has determined to focus on:
legislative reforms,
the integration of children with special needs into family and community life,
placement of violence against children on the public agenda,
improving the quality of life for children in especially difficult circumstances, and
the establishment and maintenance of national data bases on these issues.
The National Plan of Action developed to meet the specific needs of Guyana's children sets
itself to:
implement among others, programmes for the generation of employment and income in the
poorest rural and urban areas, and promote a culture of respect for human rights, especially
the rights of children;
review our legislation and legal statutes and establish judicial procedures in support of the
rights of children and women;
institutionalise the National Plan of Action for Children, incorporating the objectives,
strategies, and indicators in national development plans and policies.
More specifically, the NPA's goals within the education sector are as follows:
improve the quality of service provided to children in day care centres and to provide access
to day care services appropriate to identified needs;
make nursery education available and accessible to all children from age 3 years and 6
months;
ensure access to quality primary education in an appropriate learning environment for all
children;
provide access to relevant secondary education to all primary school graduates;
promote literacy and numeracy programmes for early school leavers and those who have
already passed through the school system without acquiring adequate language skills; and
strengthen community alliances.
The second point of reference to international conventions is the World Declaration on
Education for All, held in Jomtein, Thailand, again in 1990. This convention certainly takes on
board the rights of the child and is very useful in building a strategy and elaborating the

mechanisms necessary, both for the conceptualisation and the delivery of quality education in
Guyana. According to the Jomtein Declaration, basic education is the fundamental right of all
the population. Basic education is indispensable for achieving higher levels of quality in the
upper levels of the educational system, in the advancement of scientific and technical
capacity, and in the comprehensive development of the country.
In this context, the philosophy governing education in Guyana rests on several broad and
underlying principles, as follows:
Every child has an inherent, inalienable right to an education that promotes self-realisation of
all capacities, regardless of gender, ethnic, religious, social and economic antecedents, and
whatever abilities or disabilities he or she may have.
Education, the basis of the human resource development of all nations, is fundamental to the
prosperity of this country, nation-building and a strong sense of citizenry, hence to civic
responsibility.
Students vary in natural ability and schools should provide, for all students, programmes
adapted to varying abilities and that promote useful talents.
There is need to be aware of new research and development in the field of human learning
and continuously adapt these for effective teaching and to improve the educational system.
The philosophy that guides these objectives must also relate to conditions in Guyana as they
are, and as we want them to be. Guyana is a plural society with a fair degree of tolerance. Yet,
it is also a society with unacceptable levels of tension, division and discrimination between
citizens of different races, genders, socioeconomic backgrounds, ages, and abilities. In
addition, in the last two decades, economic deterioration has fostered a trend toward
breakdown of family and community. In these circumstances, our educational system must
also be based on the following principles:
Families have a major responsibility for the welfare of children and the well-being of children
could be best promoted by the strengthening of the bonds between the family, the community
and the school.
The curricular arrangements that underpin the educational system must offer choices
ensuring that cultural, ethnic, class, and gender needs are effectively addressed, and that help
develop strong ethical, moral, and civil responsibility.
The educational system is best served (and in turn, it most effectively supports a plural
multicultural society) when there is consensus in civil society on the philosophy and policy on
which it is based.
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B. Objectives
The most fundamental, all-embracing, objectives of the nation's educational system are
three:
1. Raising levels of literacy and numeracy in the population.
2. Improving the population's command of life skills.

3. Meeting the special education needs of children who are handicapped in one way or
another.
Achievement of these objectives will give our citizens more control over their destinies,
increase their economic earning power, and enable them to enrich their lives socially and
culturally. Therefore, these are fundamental objectives that support all aspects of this
National Development Strategy.
To facilitate the achievement of these basic objectives, in the context of the current issues and
constraints affecting the educational system, the following broad operational objectives are
posited:
1. Increasing the effectiveness of instruction at all levels in the system, per unit of
resources expended.
2. Increasing the relative importance accorded to primary education within the system.
3. Mobilising greater amounts of financial resources for all levels and types of education.
4. Targeting more effectively the expenditures on the more needy students, thus allowing
the available funding to stretch farther.
5. Increasing student attendance and making the system more flexible in order to
accommodate students who mature academically at different rates.
6. Reducing regional inequalities in education and providing better for children with
special needs.
7. Increasing the gender sensitivity of the system at all levels.
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V. Policy Recommendations and Their Technical Justifications
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A. Overall Policies for the Educational System
1. Financing of Education
In view of the issues and constraints previously described in the area of financing, there is no
single solution and hence the way forward must contain multiple elements. Making basic
education accessible to all school-age children remains a cornerstone of educational policy,
but new mechanisms will be put in place so that those families who can afford to pay part of
the schooling costs for their children in fact do so. Increased community contributions in kind
and in cash also will be encouraged. It must be borne in mind that the pretense of providing
free education to all is in reality leading to the emergence of an inequitable system, in which
the better-off families purchase a higher quality of education for their children (mainly via
tutoring).
Notwithstanding these measures, the Government reaffirms its commitment to raise the
share of the national budget that is allocated to education. The goal for this share is to raise it

to worldwide norms for developing countries by the year 2005, and to achieve half of that
projected increase by the year 2000.
The additional financial resources mobilised by the educational system will permit a
determined attack on its most basic problems, by raising teachers' salaries substantially,
improving training for teachers (including in-service training), rehabilitating physical plant,
providing educational materials in greater quantity and in higher quality, and taking other
essential steps.
To give concrete expression to these central thrusts of policy for financing education, the
following specific policies are adopted for the sector:
a. The share of the national budget allocated to education will be raised continuously from the
present level of approximately 6 percent to 10 percent by 2000 and further to 14 percent by
2005.
b. All current barriers to the setting up of private schools will be removed, while requiring
that in their operations such schools comply with Ministry guidelines on curriculum, teacher
qualifications and safety standards of physical plant. Maximum flexibility will be given to
those schools in respect of staff management and promotion, the kinds of educations
materials used, and other areas of operational decisions. It is performance that ultimately
matters, in terms of improved learning, and not how each school chooses to achieve that
performance. Indeed, better performance is likely to be registered over time if innovation is
encouraged in school administration. By permitting private schools to emerge and absorb
part of the student population in a self-financing way, the amount of resources available to
the public system will signify higher levels of support per student.
c. Develop a systematic approach for consulting communities and target groups on cost
sharing activities, development of schools' financial plans and related topics, and for involving
community watchdog groups in the monitoring of the use of physical facilities to reduce
repair costs and in the carrying out of routine maintenance activities.
d. Contract out selected school administrative services, such as transport, catering, etc., that
could be more competitively delivered commercially.
e. Establish for the primary and secondary schools in the greater Georgetown area a modest
basic fee that would cover items such as books and materials, school security services, first
aid services, and the mechanisms for parent involvement and consultations. It must be
recognised that at present most parents do pay for their children's education, through
purchase of materials that are not in reality available and through extra-curricular lessons to
compensate for the existing deficiencies of the system. This demonstrated willingness to pay
needs to be channeled in directions that help strengthen the system. After five years of
experience with these fees, they can be evaluated and a decision can be made as to whether
they should be extended to other areas of the country.
f. Develop arrangements for means testing by other agencies that will identify those families
that should be exempt from paying the modest fee mentioned above. It is important that the
means testing be conducted by institution(s) outside the educational system, in order to
avoid introducing a potential source of friction between the school administrations and the
communities of parents. Every effort needs to be made to enhance the partnerships between
parents and schools. Means testing should be a responsibility of SIMAP, which should
improve its capabilities in this area.
g. Cut back on examination subsidies, except for the poorest families who are identified
through the same means testing outlined immediately above.

h. Restructure expenditure at the President's College without compromising its capacity to
deliver quality education.
i. Expand partnerships with private enterprises and old students' associations, and adopt a
clear policy that each school may raise, by these and other mechanisms, supplementary
funding up to a specified percentage of the budget without prejudicing its regular allotment
from the Ministry of Education. In this way, schools will be given additional incentives to
strengthen community alliances. Also clarify that the supplementary funding mobilised in this
way may be used for purchasing additional equipment and materials, establishing
programmes of teacher incentives, providing additional funding to special education, and for
establishing bursaries for students of low-income families to remit in their name the new
basic fee.
j. Implementing modest charges for after-school care, again with the provision for exemptions
based on the same means tests. After-school care should become an activity that more than
pays for itself, thus contributing to funding the central educational mission of the schools.
k. Organise the hiring out of premises during periods when they are not utilised for schooling.
l. For technical and vocational education, Chapter 35 establishes an important new financing
policy, which is that of a small payroll tax (between 0.5 percent and 1 percent), the proceeds
of which would be disbursed under the guidance of a tripartite council. In addition to that
measure, for graduates of TVET courses who are successful in obtaining regular employment,
a small levy on their salaries, of not more than 5 percent of net income, will be utilised to
reimburse part of the cost of their training. Such a levy would be continued for a maximum
number of years, or until such cost were repaid in full, whichever came first, and no
repayment would be expected of those who do not succeed in finding regular employment
within a specified time period after graduating from the course.
m. Financing considerations for the University of Guyana are mentioned below in the sub-
section on the university.
2. Balance between Different Levels of Education
Given the importance of primary education as mentioned in earlier sections of this Chapter,
the policy of the National Development Strategy in this area is to allocate the majority of
each's year's increment in the national educational budget to primary education until the goal
is attained of raising primary education's budgetary share from the present level of 27
percent to the target of 35 percent by the year 2000, with a further increase to 40 percent by
the year 2005.
This policy will be implemented beginning with the 1997 budget, and it is expected that the
35 percent target could in fact be achieved by 1999.
Following this path means that secondary and tertiary education will not have to suffer any
budgetary reductions, and in fact will receive some increases each year, while the share
devoted to primary education is being increased.
3. Targeting Educational Expenditures
The financing policies mentioned above also will serve to better target educational
expenditures on needy students, so that in the end the subsidies implicit in these
expenditures go to those who most require them.
At the same time, the educational system will undertake to reduce the variations between
regions in the amount of spending per pupil. The goal for the year 2000 is to see that those
variations are such that, for each level of education, the region receiving the lowest funding

obtains at least 80 percent of the spending per pupil of the region receiving the highest
funding.
4. Gender Sensitivity
In order to increase the gender sensitivity of the system, the following policies will be
instituted:
a. Specific material on sensitivity with respect to gender will be included in the curriculum for
teacher training. In those courses, trainee teachers will be exposed to the requisite skills and
techniques for gender-free teaching, to better manage the mixed classroom situation,
allowing each gender to more fully realise its potentials.
b. A special commission will review the curricula of the system, and its teaching and learning
materials, with respect to gender considerations, and appropriate revisions will be made
accordingly.
c. Appropriate monitoring tools and mechanisms will be developed by the Ministry of
Education for following the treatment of gender issues in the school system, and for providing
corresponding feedback to school administrators and teachers.
d. Special bursaries will be established to encourage girls to go into scientific and technical
vocational fields.
5. Administration of Education
a. Improved baseline data, along with its computerisation, and systematic budgetary
monitoring procedures will be developed and implemented.
b. The relationships between the Central Ministry, the Regional Education Department and
the Regional Democratic Councils will be redefined and clarified, and their respective
coordination mechanisms will be strengthened.
c. Training programmes for school administrators, central educational authorities and
regional officials will be strengthened and applied more broadly. Special orientation and
training programmes will be instituted for newly appointed regional officials.
d. Mechanisms will be developed to involve community members more fully in the annual
planning for each school and in the implementation of such plans. Particular emphasis will be
given to involving the families of children with special needs.
e. Similarly, mechanisms will be developed for involvement of representatives of local
communities and regions in overall education planning and delivery, including issues related
to the curriculum.
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B. Policies Specific to Levels of Education
1. Pre-School Care
The basic orientation of policy for pre-school care is to make the programmes more widely
available and give more structure to them, keeping in mind the need to provide socialisation
activities and to prepare the way for the transition into school itself.

a. Training will be provided to day care and play group instructors.
b. A survey will be conducted in order to develop a greater understanding of the demand for
day care and play school facilities.
c. Partly as a function of the results of said survey, a programme will be launched to upgrade
existing facilities and build new ones, for this category of care.
d. A dialogue, with regular meetings, will be undertaken between concerned agencies and
representative parents and teachers, in order to arrive at a common understanding of the
basic elements of a "curriculum" for day care and play groups.
e. A campaign will be carried out to establish strategic alliances with the business sector,
NGOs and community-based organisations to provide enhanced child care facilities within
nursery schools in general, and in particular in the main urban centres.
2. Nursery Level Education
Considerable effort is needed to expanded the availability of nursery-level education, to
improve its quality and to give its curriculum more meaningful content. Specific policies
toward those ends are as follows:
a. A panel of experts (possibly local and international) will be established to work on the
curriculum and with administrators, teachers and interested representatives of communities,
toward strengthening the quality of nursery-level education, given that this is a very
formative age in the cognitive process. The curriculum will be refined and expanded to:
Help students deal better with sensitive issue such as gender bias and discrimination by race,
religion or social status, and to minimize the emergence of such attitudes as the children
mature.
Facilitate the children's transition from use of their dialect or home language to standard
English.
Assist children to validate themselves personally in the context of the society, i.e., develop
respect for the achievements of their ancestors and a sense of pride in their own persona and
interests and talents.
Encourage children's sense of curiosity and willingness to explore their world on a
conceptual plane.
b. Campaigns will be undertaken to increase the enrollment in nursery schools by at least 15
percent over the next five years, with particular emphasis on the hinterland and deep riverain
areas.
c. Expanded training activities will be provided for teachers, including distance education
modalities, improving their capabilities especially for dealing with the points mentioned
above under refinement of the curriculum. The quantitative goal of the expanded training
programme should be to increase the percentage of teachers at this level who are trained by
at least 15 to 20 percent annually.
d. Increase the number of facilities specifically built for purposes of nursery schooling.
Through the PTAs the private sector should be encouraged to help in providing more of these
facilities.

e. Learning materials should be developed in native languages, and materials should be
prepared that include stories about all groups in society, cutting across distinctions of gender,
race, status and so forth.
f. Teachers at this level also should be trained to teach English as a second language.
g. Informational material and short courses should be developed for community groups,
NGOs, and parents that wish to participate in the delivery of early childhood education.
h. Provision should be made for the nursery schools to offer supervision for children who
cannot be picked up immediately at the end of the session. As noted above in the section on
policies for financing education, fees commensurate with the effort should be charged for
providing this service, or alternatively parent volunteers should be recruited.
i. Guidelines and documentation should be developed for communities that wish to start their
own nursery schools.
3. Primary Level Education
A national priority has to be attached to providing broader access to primary education of
high quality. The planned increase in funding will help in this regard, but it also is important
that the additional funds be spent wisely. The specific policies set out below indicate some of
the most important ways in which primary education can be improved.
a. Increase annually the percentage of primary teachers who are professionally trained, so
that it rises to 75 percent by the year 2000. Distance learning methods for in-service training
should be utilised as well as the regular programme of the CPCE.
b. Develop a programme for raising salaries with the additional budgetary allocations, giving
special consideration to hinterland areas and introducing mechanisms of performance-based
incentives (merit increments) for teachers and for entire school staffs.
c. Develop a more balanced curriculum and student performance norms according to grade,
level and subject. The curriculum must include introduction to a foreign language and
computers and the development of life skills, with especially strong emphasis on achieving
literacy, numeracy and communication skills. Development or problem-solving abilities and
life skills also should be an integral part of the curriculum. Values, moral underpinnings and
factual material for good citizenship also need to be stressed. A panel of experts should be
convened for the purpose of revising the curriculum.
d. Review and revise current assessment practices, toward the institutionalisation of
continuous assessment supported by a system of improved record-keeping in schools. In
addition, develop performance norms according to grade level and subject in keeping with
the teaching of life skills.
e. Convene a national committee to evaluate thoroughly the option of eliminating the SSEE
and replacing it with the aforementioned performance norms and continuous assessments.
The definitive choice between academic and vocational tracks on the part of students could
be deferred to age 14 or 16.
f. Make primary teaching guides available to all teachers in the system at this level. The guides
should also be provided to all supervisory staff, in order to improve the capacity of the
inspectorate and regional supervisory staff to monitor the implementation of the curriculum.
g. With assistance from external donors and local NGOs, strengthen school feeding
programmes so that virtually all primary schools are covered. As well as improving nutrition
levels of students, these programmes help to increase attendance rates.(5)

h. Explore approaches to involving more advanced students as para-instructors, particularly
for literacy and numeracy skills and especially in hinterland areas.
i. Accelerate the programmes of rehabilitation and construction of schools, seeking assistance
from donor agencies in this area whenever possible, and facilitate the design of modular
purpose-built structures for different levels of enrollment. Maintain and develop the libraries
envisioned under the PEIP.
j. On a pilot basis, select a small number of schools with past achievement rates that are below
average, and try to convert them into magnet schools through an intensive and coordinated
programme of renovation of physical plant, introduction of additional teaching materials, and
provision of intensive in-service training to the teaching staffs.
k. Reintroduce ancillary staff to schools with more than 500 pupils.
l. Establish pilot projects for the testing of strategies for smoothing out the transitional
periods between nursery and primary schools, and between primary and secondary.
m. Maintain and strengthen the alliances with programmes such as SIMAP, BNTF and others
for the repair of schools, provision of furniture, creation of libraries, supply of developmental
materials, etc. Involve the PTAs actively in the coordination of outside support for the schools.
4. Secondary Level Education
Although a disproportionate share of increments to the national education budget will be
allocated to primary schools over the next few years, other levels will also receive annual
increases in real terms. In addition the schools can expect to receive additional funding
through the institution of partial fees as mentioned above, increased community
contributions, rental of unutilised facilities, and the like. It is essential to develop plans for the
most effective use of the additional funding, giving the highest priorities to raising teachers'
salaries, improving the training of teachers, and providing more teaching and learning
materials. In regard to training, special emphasis needs to be placed on in-service training By
the same token, there needs to be a thorough-going reappraisal and rationalisation of the
secondary education budget to eliminate major expenditures that are of secondary
importance to the central mission of the schools.
Other fundamental policies for secondary education include the need to:
Review the option of restructuring the curriculum of secondary education to assimilate fully
the implications of the possible elimination of the SSEE and the deferral of the choice between
academic and vocational tracks until age 14 or 16.
Extend the community high school programmes by one year and use the first year for repeat
and remedial work in languages, mathematics and science, as a first step in the unification of
the GSS, CHS and the secondary departments of the primary schools.
Improve the relevance of the curriculum by incorporating at least one foreign language, more
exposure to computer training, and basic competence in technical vocational subjects such as
mechanics, electronics, professional manners for dealing with clients, etc. Spanish should
become the obligatory first foreign language, as part of Guyana's drive to better take
advantage of its geographical location in the hemisphere and expand business relationships
with neighbors and near-neighbors.
Additional policies of basic importance for secondary education include the following:
a. Establish a more structured system of supervised teaching in the secondary schools,
especially from Form One to Form Three, where the learning of basic concepts is crucial to

increasing students' capacity to understand and apply analytical tools at subsequent levels in
the educational system and later in the world of work.
b. Develop and distribute guidelines so that school administrators and supervisors can
encourage teachers to set questions that cover each of the levels of the cognitive domain. It
has been observed that teachers in the secondary level tend not to foster analytical skills,
critical thinking and advanced applications skills, because they only set questions that test the
lower levels of the cognitive domain.
c. Establish a common curriculum for at least the first three years in all schools at the
secondary level. Update the curriculum to ensure that it continues to be relevant to the
nation's development priorities and plans. As an example, the increasing importance of
tourism to the economy suggests the need to introduce related concepts into the curriculum.
d. Establish a system for awarding CXC subsidies to students based on means testing.
e. Initiate a programme of implementing measures to increase the cost-effectiveness of the
delivery of education in all schools, and in particular in President's College. The pupil-teacher
ratio should be increased (but not to exceed the national recommendation for secondary
schools made in 1994), the number of coastal boarders should be reduced, greater
accommodation should be made for students from the hinterland, and administrative staff
should be rationalised.
f. Implement a policy of assigning available and experienced Form teachers who are able to
offer advice, guidance and pastoral care to all students and in particular to those of Forms
One and Two.
g. Redouble efforts to ensure that the first forms have a full complement of teachers for all
subject areas. Whenever possible, ensure that the more experienced teachers are placed in
the early forms.
h. Extend the compulsory age of education to 16 or the completion of a five-year secondary
programme. However, it must be recognised that improving the quality and relevance of
education will do more than anything else to retain students longer in the system.
i. Broaden certification at the secondary level by the introduction of a Guyana Secondary
Education Certificate examination.
5. Training of Teachers
In the area of teacher training there are two dominant needs: to increase very substantially
the number of trained teachers, and to improve the quality and relevance of the training that
is imparted to them. Fulfilling these needs will require a number of reforms which together
contribute to bringing about improvements in the technology and delivery systems for
teacher training, improving its cost-effectiveness, mobilising more resources for it, and
providing increased opportunities and incentives for teachers to become trained. This is an
area of urgent national priority. In quantitative terms, the goal is to ensure that 80 percent of
all teachers at every level are trained by the year 2000.
The principal specific thrusts of policy in this area are the following:
a. Create new training centres at a regional level, especially in hinterland areas, and develop
modalities of distance training. At the same time, ensure that there is sufficient equivalency in
the various teacher training programmes.
b. Seek assistance from external donors in regard to securing access to improved technologies
for teacher training.

c. Improve the cost-effectiveness of teacher training. Distance education methodologies will
help in this regard, but student-teacher ratios in training programmes should be increased in
most cases.
d. Dedicate part of each year's increase in the national educational budget to improving the
salaries of teachers' educators. Savings realised through increases in the cost-effectiveness of
training programmes also should be directed in large measure to increasing salaries of
trainers.
e. Introduce fees to represent partial cost recovery for teacher training. As in the case of other
levels of the educational system, exemptions from payment of the fee can be made on the
basis of means tests. Also, teacher trainees can be given the option of paying the fee from
future earnings, once employed in the teaching profession. This policy has the aims of (i)
assisting in the task of mobilising more resources for teacher training, and (ii) assisting in the
overall effort to target educational expenditures on the lowest income groups.
f. Update the curriculum for teacher training to emphasise:
Teaching the fundamentals of literacy and numeracy.
Teaching more analytical approaches to basic material and ways to encourage students to
think creatively.
Materials that will enable teachers to cope with the realities of the modern classroom which
include various forms of indiscipline.
The importance of inculcating self-esteem and self-worth in students.
The use of computers and modern techniques of communication.
A greater role for teaching foreign languages, especially Spanish which will be the first
prerequisite in that regard.
Techniques for teaching remedial classes.
A structure of the teacher training programmes which is conducive to critical thinking on the
part of teachers themselves, and a greater openness to different methods of doing things.
The guidance and pastoral care part of the curriculum in schools.
g. Provision of greater opportunities for training for the current stock of teachers, through
sabbaticals, short courses and seminars given in situ, and distance learning through written
materials supplemented by frequent direct contacts with trainers. Ensure that these
approaches constitute a programme through which teachers can obtain a degree while on the
job.
h. Provision of incentives for participating in training opportunities by means of salary
increments tied to levels of training and to the observed degree of improvement in the
performance of students. Similarly, reward excellence by grading the certificates obtained by
teachers. Provide special incentives linked to acquisition of the appropriate knowledge and
techniques in mathematics, sciences and languages.
i. Provide a system through which highly qualified persons who have not come through the
educational curriculum in their tertiary studies can nevertheless acquire professional
teaching competence through intensified and abbreviated courses in teacher training. In
addition, make provision for such persons to participate in teaching on a part-time or
occasional basis without having received full certification from a teacher training programme.

j. Review and rationalise the relationships between CPCE, NCERD and the University of
Guyana, and develop greater interface among those programmes. Modularise the CPCE
programme and base qualifications and certification on the acquired number of credits. Make
provisions for licensing teachers who are trained at institutions other than CPCE and the
University of Guyana.
k. Ensure that in the long term all heads of schools should be graduate. Meanwhile, all the
appointed school heads and administrators should be adequately qualified for the jobs they
have to do. They should receive specific, periodic training in management and administrative
skills needed for the competent execution of their professional responsibilities.
l. Make provision for the teacher trainers themselves to receive periodic refresher materials
and courses.
m. Evaluate teacher training programmes systematically every five years, and establish levels,
benchmarks and relationships between the various teacher training programmes.
n. Ensure articulation of programmes between post-secondary technical vocational
institutions, and establish equivalencies.
o. Train and appoint guidance teachers, including vocational guidance personnel.
p. Strengthen entry requirements for teacher training programmes.
6. Tertiary Education
Major challenges for the University of Guyana include producing a greater concentration of
graduates in areas demanded by the growing economy and improving its cost effectiveness.
At the same time, the emphasis on improving the quality of instruction should be continued
and the needs of adult and continuing education attended to. Efforts should be made to
establish special centres of excellence in fields particularly relevant to Guyana's development
process. In addition, as indicated, there is scope for supplementing the programmes of the
university with specialised offerings from universities in other countries.
a. For improving cost effectiveness the following policies need to be carried out:
i) A predictable, reliable and declining level of the subvention to the university should be
maintained over the long term, based on a transparent and workable formula.
ii) Enrollments should be increased in some of the faculties with a low student-teacher ratio.
Failing that, eventually staff numbers should be reduced in some of those cases. In effect, the
university should seek to have a more viable and cost-effective grouping of courses, retaining
flexibility over time in relation to the determination of priority fields.
iii) The university should seek to achieve more significant efficiency in the utilisation of its
existing income by improving its management. For instance, the ratio of its ancillary staff to
its academic staff is rather high relative to comparable institutions. Likewise, management
should act more speedily to commercialise the university's potentials in service, research and
development. Consultancy is an obvious area to expand.
iv) Fees should be maintained and should possibly vary from faculty to faculty, depending on
professional income earning possibilities after graduation. It is possible to index or link the
fees to the income earning potential of the fields of specialisation. After the commencement of
employment, not more than 10 percent of the annual earnings of the beneficiary should be
used in servicing the debt incurred and such repayment should not exceed a period of ten to
fifteen years. A variant of this scheme would be an annual repayment of student loans that
should not exceed 60 percent of the national per capita income over the repayment period. In

any case, when computing the annual student financial requirements, adequate allowances
should be made to cover the full living cost of the students.
v) Greater community-wide support for the university should be mobilised, including both
domestic and foreign sources. Perhaps the most obvious ways to mobilise such support are
seeking endowments for chaired professorships and research programmes, and seeking
contributions to scholarship funds. Also, the network of graduates of the university should be
tapped for support on a regular basis.
vi) Heads of Department should be accountable for financial budgeting and expenditures,
instead of the Deans, and they should report through the Deans to the proposed Vice-
Chancellor for Finance. Training and assistance should be provided to the Department Heads
in order to improve the institution's capacity for sound financial management.
vii) The public subvention to the university should be transferred on an annual basis to avoid
disruptions in the management of the institution's finances.
viii) Rolling five-year plans should be prepared for both the capital and recurrent
expenditures, plus salaries, to ensure greater predictability and probity in the use of funds.
ix) A university grants commission should be set up, with membership drawn in part from
the University Council, to recommend to the Government financial allocations over the
medium and short term.
x) Require that students who receive scholarships cannot emigrate without having worked at
least two years in Guyana after graduation.
b. To improve the quality and relevance of the university, and to help it fulfill its wider
responsibilities to the Guyanese public, the following measures should be implemented:
i) The university's entry requirement of five "O" levels at any number of sittings should be
retained.
ii) Nevertheless, to expand the intake of students, high school diplomas should be considered
in conjunction with other requirements for entry, and the possibility of a scholastic aptitude
test should be evaluated as part of the selection process.
iii) The university's capacity should be strengthened in respect of providing remedial
material in basic subjects in the first year of enrollment.
iii) The facility for provision of scholarships to needy students should be widened.
iv) Adult education and continuing education programmes should be strengthened.
v) Triennial reviews of course offerings should be undertaken with a view to revising them in
light of the requirements of the economy.
vi) The university should develop a long term plan for establishing and strengthening centres
of excellence which eventually could draw students from the Caribbean region and
elsewhere, and special support from industry and international donors should be sought for
research and teaching programmes (and student scholarships) in those centres. Topics that
commend themselves as natural candidates for such centres include tropical forestry and
forest management, geology and mining, and fisheries management. The possible topics
should be reviewed, and programmes developed for establishing the centres. Only one such
centre should be attempted in a given five-year period, but conceivably two of them could be
established or underway by 2005.

vii) The university's foreign language offerings, especially Spanish, should be improved as a
priority matter.
viii) Forms of collaboration with the University of the West Indies should be explored,
thereby obviating the need for the University of Guyana to have equal depth of expertise in all
areas, thus contributing to greater cost-effectiveness.
ix) Considerations of gender sensitivity need to be introduced in more course offerings, and
faculty and administrators should be given special materials and seminars on the subject.
x) The availability of cultural and sports facilities for students, and support facilities, should
be increased.
xi) As a consequence of improved cost-effectiveness, the most deteriorated aspects of the
physical plant need to be rehabilitated urgently.
c. Exploratory contacts should be initiated with universities in other countries regarding their
possible interest in establishing small branch campuses in Guyana, and legislation should be
adapted to permit that option. Both undergraduate and graduate programmes should be
investigated in this context. As mentioned above, the availability of such options within
Guyana would be of great importance to students, as they would signify greater accessibility
of university-level options without having the incur the costs of travel and living abroad.
7. Technical Vocational Education and Training
The principal task for technical and vocational education and training is to improve its
efficiency and its relevance to the needs of potential employers. A principal avenue to
achieving this aim is to involve the private sector more deeply in its financing, guidance and
delivery. Chapter 35 sets out policies for funding via a small payroll tax and guidance through
the establishment of a tripartite council comprising representatives of labour, private
business and government.
Such a council also should take responsibilities in the areas of certification of graduating
students and periodic evaluations of the TVET system. Involvement of employers also can
lead to expanded opportunities for practical training via internships in firms. Employers
should be encouraged to support TVET programmes in kind as well as in cash, with
contributions of employees' time and making available equipment and materials.
The TVET system should be structured so that it offers more short-term courses in general
for those with a basic education, crafts programmes for qualified Form III graduates, diploma
programmes for Form V graduates with appropriate CXC examination results, and the
opportunity for admission to technical programmes at the University of Guyana for
outstanding graduates of the diploma programmes. Special emphasis needs to be given to
short courses in rural areas on topics that have the potential to enhance incomes of farmers.
In general, TVET offerings need to be made more varied and more frequent.
The increased funding available for TVET should be used to expand its scope, which currently
is rather small, and to improve the quality of the instruction. The expansion should take place
in areas indicated by the tripartite council. Other reforms that are needed are as follows:
a. Eliminate pre-vocational courses in basic education and reallocate the corresponding
resources toward post-basic TVET.
b. Widen the geographical coverage of the TVET system as needed. For example, Region 2
could sustain a technical institute of its own.

c. Work toward ensuring gender sensitivity by encouraging applications from females in all
fields.
d. Ensure articulation and fit between levels of education and equivalency vis-a-vis the
CARICOM region.
e. Entrepreneurial ideas should be given more exposure in the curricula of primary,
secondary and tertiary schools.
f. Require that TVET students who receive scholarships cannot emigrate without having
worked in Guyana for at least two years after graduation.
8. Special Needs Education
As mentioned in Section III of this Chapter, the special needs in education essentially have
gone unmet by the educational system to date, with the exception of the efforts of the two
special schools. Meeting these needs requires recognising this problem fully, diagnosing
accurately the nature of the needs in each case, training teachers and administrators
appropriately, and ensuring that programmes for special needs are included in all the
curricula. National policy for special needs education should focus on:
a. Putting children with special needs into the mainstream of education, except in cases of
severe disability.
b. Ensuring an appropriate educational climate, including learning materials and curriculum,
and also the requisite support services and physical infrastructure.
c. Fostering informed involvement on the part of immediate families of children with special
needs and their communities.
d. Training teachers in the essential skills and techniques required in special needs education.
e. Developing partnerships with support groups and non-governmental organisations.
Specific policies that should be followed in regard to special needs education are the
following:
a. Institute a programme of regular diagnostic testing in the schools to identify learning
difficulties and put in place timely remedial measures. This testing should be viewed as a
means of enlightening both teachers and parents and as an effective aid in the educational
development of the children, but not as a labeling device. In this regard, the Ministry of Health
should work in close collaboration with the educational system for the early detection of
special needs and the design of timely interventions when necessary, preferably before
school age. This cooperation should also encompass the educational needs of street children,
dropouts, juvenile delinquents and abused children.
b. Require all schools to articulate their multi-year and annual plans and resource
requirements for satisfying children's special needs. Based on the diagnoses carried out, each
school will determine whether it needs a special class or a resource room to deal with special
needs pupils. Each school should establish a task force for special needs. The Head of the
school and the teachers should receive guidance in this role.
c. Consideration will be given to the nature of the examinations and assessments to which
special needs pupils should be subjected, just as exceptionally bright and gifted children are
usually given some special considerations in this regard.

d. The existing special needs schools (David Rose and Saint Barnabas) will be strengthened in
all aspects to enable them to cater more effectively to their pupils.
e. The committee on special needs chaired by the Principal of the David Rose School will be
more formally recognised, expanded in the scope of its activities, and empowered to deal
more effectively with the associated issues. The committee's substantive responsibility
should be to develop, introduce, support, and monitor appropriate educational programmes
for those pupils with special needs. It will establish two subcommittees, for the counties of
Berbice and Essequibo, in order to be more effective locally.
It will have jurisdiction for the design, implementation, support and monitoring of
educational programmes for:
the families of children with special needs;
the wider community, in order to minimise or remove the prejudices and barriers that are
widespread concerning these children;
It will also generate and maintain a data base on children with special needs and the
associated programmes, and it will develop the terms of reference for the special needs task
forces mentioned above that will be set up in the schools.
9. Other Educational Policies
a. Offering instruction in English
Given its location and tradition of literacy, Guyana has a special opportunity to become a
centre for the learning of English as a second language, for persons from the countries of
South America. The Ministry of Education and Culture and the Ministry of Trade, Industry and
Tourism will establish a joint task force to review the possibilities in this area and formulate
recommendations. Quito, Ecuador and Antigua, Guatemala are cases that merit review, as
they have become renowned as centres for learning Spanish as a second language, and each of
those cities has a large number of institutes devoted to that aim.
b. Use of standard English
To preserve its traditions and meet the challenge of interacting on a greater scale with the
external world, Guyana needs to make special efforts to encourage the use of standard
English. A campaign should be developed to encourage the use of standard English in the
workplace.
[Back to Top]
VI. Recommended Legislative Changes
[Back to Top]
A. Education Act (1876 Act)
For almost a century, the 1876 Act governed education in Guyana. Not until 1975 and 1976
were limited changes made to the Act to facilitate specific developments such as coeducation,
the take over of private schools, and free education. Outside these specific acts, the rights of

children in general, and their rights to education in particular, are reflected in the national
constitution.
The education amendment acts as they presently stand, clearly lack flexibility to adapt to the
variety of changes occurring in the sector, and for which they were hitherto not designed to
cater. The following proposed changes are only indicative and not exhaustive:
establish the general and specific rights of children to a compulsory nine-year quality
education;
strengthening the autonomous status of the educational establishment at the secondary and
tertiary levels, inclusive of school boards;
institutionalise the role of non-governmental and community-based organisations in policy,
theory, and management of the educational system;
end the monopoly of Government in the education sector, and permit private and community-
based institutions at all levels of education;
enshrine the appropriate regulatory authority to set, monitor, and enforce natural curriculum
standards, recruitment, training, appointment, and promotion of teachers, code of conduct,
standards of physical facilities, learning materials, conditions of services, subventions, etc.
extend the said authority to cover other "commercial and business" type schools in
consultation with representative user bodies.
[Back to Top]
B. Technical Vocational Education and Training
The Industrial Training Act is being amended and the draft bill incorporates an autonomous
board that will report to the Ministry of Education, and will be responsible for all TVET,
including the TVET component of the Community High Schools. It will also become the
curriculum approving body. This proposed act is consistent with the CARICOM technical and
vocational training policy.
1. 0The eight-year compulsory attendance was introduced in 1876.
2. 0Although recruitment of permanent staff is still the function of the TSC, the Regional
Education Officer is responsible for the identification and appointment of temporary staff.
3. 0This figure refers to expenditures incurred by the Ministry of Education and Culture. Not
included are expenditures on education by other agencies such as the Ministry of Agriculture,
which comprise about 5 percent of total spending on education.
4. 0Physical plant is badly deteriorated. In 1991 it was found that only 10 percent of the
school buildings were in satisfactory condition. Textbooks and other teaching materials are in
very scarce supply, more often being absent than not.
5. 0 International studies have shown that sometimes students from very poor families who
receive meals at school have their meal portions reduced at home, in favour of other family
members. Nevertheless, even when that occurs, the net nutrition level of the entire family is

improved by the feeding programme, and in addition there is the mentioned benefit of
improved attendance rates.
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