A characteristic of many countries, particularly developing ones, is the wide gap in development and education standards and overcoming this has posed a challenge for both governments and organisations/agencies involved in developmental work.
Of course there are several factors which are responsible for this wide gap and these include the historical evolution of societies, culture, traditions, poor governmental policies and lack of resources.
Lack of a proper education system and facilities in rural communities only help to perpetuate poverty there, and it is exactly because of this situation that many countries are increasingly employing education as a key tool in the fight against poverty.
Guyana is among those countries which historically have had an urban focused development pattern and so there existed for a long time a large gap between rural and urban education standards. And as such the overwhelming majority top academic performers and those who excelled at various examinations came from urban areas.
However, in recent years there has been a gradual change, with many top performers emerging from rural communities.
The results of this year’s National Grade Six examinations have shown that this encouraging trend is continuing with a large number of students from the top one percent coming from rural communities. According to the preliminary analysis of the examination by the Education Ministry 185 students comprised the top one percent and of this amount 174 came from the rural regions while 11 came from Region 4 where the capital city is located.
This trend is also similar in the results of the CSEC results.
This no doubt is largely due to the increasing emphasis which this government has been placing on education in rural communities since its assumption to office in 1992.
Apart from the hundreds of schools and other educational facilities, which have either been built or repaired in the rural and hinterland regions, one of the notable aspects of the national education programme has been the emphasis on the training of teachers in these communities and this has been given a fillip through the implementation of the distance mode of education.
The revival of the Cyril Potter College of Education rural training centres has also contributed significantly to improving teacher training countryside.
Unfortunately, these training centres which were established by a former PPP government were closed down by the succeeding PNC government. The current government has irrefutably demonstrated its unswerving commitment towards improved delivery of education in both rural and urban communities. Evidence of this commitment lies in the government’s allocations in the national budget. Year after year we have seen the largest chunk of allocations being made to the social sector, amounting to some 20% of the national budget. In addition in a few years we should be able to achieve the goal of universal secondary education with enrolment standing at 80% currently compared to a mere 35% in 1992.
Of course there are several factors which are responsible for this wide gap and these include the historical evolution of societies, culture, traditions, poor governmental policies and lack of resources.
Lack of a proper education system and facilities in rural communities only help to perpetuate poverty there, and it is exactly because of this situation that many countries are increasingly employing education as a key tool in the fight against poverty.
Guyana is among those countries which historically have had an urban focused development pattern and so there existed for a long time a large gap between rural and urban education standards. And as such the overwhelming majority top academic performers and those who excelled at various examinations came from urban areas.
However, in recent years there has been a gradual change, with many top performers emerging from rural communities.
The results of this year’s National Grade Six examinations have shown that this encouraging trend is continuing with a large number of students from the top one percent coming from rural communities. According to the preliminary analysis of the examination by the Education Ministry 185 students comprised the top one percent and of this amount 174 came from the rural regions while 11 came from Region 4 where the capital city is located.
This trend is also similar in the results of the CSEC results.
This no doubt is largely due to the increasing emphasis which this government has been placing on education in rural communities since its assumption to office in 1992.
Apart from the hundreds of schools and other educational facilities, which have either been built or repaired in the rural and hinterland regions, one of the notable aspects of the national education programme has been the emphasis on the training of teachers in these communities and this has been given a fillip through the implementation of the distance mode of education.
The revival of the Cyril Potter College of Education rural training centres has also contributed significantly to improving teacher training countryside.
Unfortunately, these training centres which were established by a former PPP government were closed down by the succeeding PNC government. The current government has irrefutably demonstrated its unswerving commitment towards improved delivery of education in both rural and urban communities. Evidence of this commitment lies in the government’s allocations in the national budget. Year after year we have seen the largest chunk of allocations being made to the social sector, amounting to some 20% of the national budget. In addition in a few years we should be able to achieve the goal of universal secondary education with enrolment standing at 80% currently compared to a mere 35% in 1992.
Thank you Mr. success, Sir. Vinhood, Ms. Carlotta and Miss Anita Rose for their endless support and most of all my family members.
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