Access to quality education for hinterland students remains a pressing issue in Guyana’s education system, with many students still facing problems such as poor infrastructure, lack of transportation, shortage of trained teachers and a lack of textbooks and learning materials.

During the announcement of this year’s NGSA results on Wednesday, Minister of Education, Priya Manickchand, reinforced the Ministry of Education’s commitment to expanding education in Guyana and the goal to remove ‘primary tops’ from being the highest level of education in some regions.

“We have built or are building 39 secondary schools across this country, from Regions 1 to Georgetown, so that we move from placing 1278 children in a ‘primary top’,” she stated.

Minister Manickchand emphasized the relationship between attaining good results to the training of teachers within each region.

In addition, she indicated that efforts are being made, with the assistance of the University of Guyana, the Cyril Potter College of Education and the Guyana Online Academy of Learning, to ensure that teachers nationwide can receive training.

“The dream now is to allow every single child in their village at the tender age of 11, 12 to go to school in their village and enjoy the love and guidance and food from their home and their parents and that is why we are currently building in Regions 1, 7, 8 and 9, 22 secondary schools”, said Minister Manickchand.

Minister Manickchand said more learning materials are being channeled to the Hinterland region, and through resources like The Learning Channel and EduFM, students in the Hinterland are also more connected to classrooms on the coast.

The top student of Region 8 with 471.52 marks, Pricilla Henry of Micobie Primary School expressed her happiness and pride in herself for attaining the highest marks in her region.

 She highlighted that she did not face too many challenges in her preparations for the common entrance examination.

Her mother, Pamela Henry said she was fully supported.

From Kamwatta Primary School, Dravid Stoll, gained the position of top student of Region 1 with 481.4 marks. He recalled the encouragement and support from his mother in preparation for his examinations.

Despite being from a remote village, Dravid said he did not face any difficulties during his exam preparations.

The experiences of the students are seen as a positive sign towards the improvement of the quality of education being offered to students in the hinterland regions. (Jade Bradford)

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