[www.inewsguyana.com] – Hinterland students are being urged to stay in school and pursue every educational opportunity, as education is the tool that will help them to maximally capitalise on developmental opportunities, and create enhanced access to a better quality of life.
This advice came from President Donald Ramotar when he visited Aishalton and Potarinau, two communities in the Rupununi, Region Nine on Tuesday, April 14.
Speaking to the residents, President Ramotar noted that Guyana’s diversity in its people is an asset and none of the six races is better than another, adding that there is however, a need to level the playing field for everyone to benefit from development.
“There is no inferior and superior people anywhere in the world…we all have the same brain. It is the opportunities that some of us lack,” he said. The Head of State added that for the first time in years there are more than 30 Amerindian students studying medicine through Government’s assistance, while several others have already been trained and are now based in their communities of birth.
He told the residents that he is aware of the challenges they face in their communities, and noted that the administration is trying to meet the needs of the hinterland population as much as possible to create equal opportunities for every hinterland resident.
These efforts, he said, include reducing poverty, pursuing measures to improve people’s quality of life and ensuring there is a highly skilled and educated workforce which will attract more investment to the country and create jobs.
The President recalled when the current administration assumed office in 1992, only 30 percent of the children attending primary schools went on to secondary schools because there was as insufficient number of schools in the country to accommodate them and hence 70 of every hundred children who wrote the secondary schools entrance examination had to remain in primary schools.
He said since then government has built and renovated more than 1000 schools across the country. These include several new schools and dormitories in the hinterland so that the children could have the opportunity to complete secondary school.
Several Toshaos (village leaders) of the surrounding communities spoke of the commitment of the government to the development in their communities.
And this commitment they said has seen their communities having access to electricity with the provision of solar panels, All Terrain Vehicles (ATVs), tractors, trailers, minibuses and other forms of transportation, financial support for small businesses, and for the first time ever, Aishalton has a secondary school with accompanying dormitory. [Extracted and modified from GINA]
