By Jomo Paul
[www.inewsguyana.com] – Leader of A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) David Granger says Guyana’s education system is in dire straits and he is distressed by the current state of affairs at Guyana’s premier tertiary education institution – the University of Guyana (UG).
During his appearance on the radio programme, ‘Hard Talk’ aired on 90.1 Love FM on Sunday, February 15, Granger made it clear that for Guyana to develop, emphasis needs to be placed on the education system which is failing the youths.
“I believe that our entire development process must begin with education…unless we get education right no other form of development will succeed….We’re deeply distressed at the mess at Turkeyen – at the University of Guyana and for that reason we give our support to the workers, to the staff,” said the Leader of the Opposition and Presidential candidate of the newly formed APNU/ Alliance For Change coalition.
According to Granger, at this point in Guyana’s development it is imperative that a colossal amount of attention be placed on building the waning education sector.
He pointed to the fact that there continues to be a steady rise in the number of school drop outs and the amount of young children failing the National Grade Six Assessment (NGSA) exams.
Granger contended that “if we do not get the University of Guyana right, it will gave a knock-on effect on the Cyril Potter College of Education and if we can’t get the Cyril Potter College of Education right it means that the teachers we are putting into primary and secondary schools have to be a better quality.”
He posited that the University is grossly underfunded and that there is need for a new approach to funding for the institution.
“…there is a crisis in the education system…we are not going to be able to produce scientists, engineers and mathematicians if at the foundation the education system is collapsing,’ the retired Brigadier elaborated.
He made it clear that under a coalition government enough emphasis will be placed on the developing the educations sector, which will in turn increase the capacity of Guyana’s human resources.
