Gov’t actively invests in education sector to meet growing student demand

The PPP/C government has been committed to enhancing the education sector, ensuring that resources are fairly distributed across all ten administrative regions.

Efforts have been made to extend and rebuild schools to accommodate the increasing demand from students in the education system.

Education Minister Priya Manickchand highlighted that, upon the government’s assumption of office in 2020, there was a shortage of space for 800 students in secondary schools across Georgetown.

To address this, her ministry embarked on constructing additional blocks at various schools and rebuilding those that had either been destroyed by fire or neglected by the previous administration.

“So, we added a class to Queen’s College, Bishops High, St Stanislaus College, St Roses High and we also added a few classes to St Joseph High. And we immediately got 200 seats,” the minister said during her address at the 180th-anniversary celebrations of Queen’s College on Monday.

She emphasised the need to expand opportunities at high-performing schools to allow more students access to quality education.

The ministry is set to go out to tender for the construction of a new section at Queen’s College to further improve accessibility for students.

Additionally, the extension of the East Ruimveldt and St Winefred Secondary Schools provided an additional 120 seats each, and the ongoing construction of St Mary’s Secondary School will add 500 more seats.

Similar expansions were carried out in Region Three, where 1,500 additional secondary school seats were needed. Primary tops along the East Bank of Demerara were also reopened to accommodate more students.

Minister Manickchand credited these achievements to President Dr Mohamed Irfaan Ali’s commitment to ensuring that every child has access to quality education.

Furthermore, due to the equal distribution of resources, many top-performing students who were awarded placements in prestigious city schools, like Queen’s College, have opted to remain in their respective regions.

In Region Three, for instance, 22 of the 44 students awarded Queen’s College placements chose to stay within their region, while on the Essequibo Coast, 15 of the 16 students chose to remain there.

Minister Manickchand emphasised that every school in the country receives the same quantity and quality of resources as Queen’s College, fostering competition and driving excellent performance across the secondary education sector.

In addition, the ministry is planning to collaborate with Queen’s College to build a swimming pool that can be shared with other secondary schools along Woolford Avenue.