Hampton Court Primary School, on the Essequibo Coast, gets a library. In a statement the Ministry of Education said the library is an extension of Government’s broader efforts to enhance educational resources and infrastructure throughout Guyana. The Government continues to spend billions in constructing schools but there has been no corresponding improvement in learning as schools continue to churn high failure rates, more functional illiterates, teachers are not given the resources to help their wards, and not incentivized to perform.
According to a recent World Bank Report a child born in Guyana today will only be 50 percent as productive when she grows up as she could be if she enjoyed complete education and full health. This figure the Bank said is lower than the average for the Latin America and Caribbean (LAC) region and upper middle-income countries.
The Bank also noted the low human capital score is in part driven by low educational and health outcomes. Although the average Guyanese student is expected to complete 12.2 years of schooling, this is equivalent to only 6.8 years of learning when expressed in terms of Learning-Adjusted Years of Schooling (LAYS), the Bank highlighted.
Presently the library has an average of 460 books. The ministry said it hopes to stimulate a culture of learning and reading, reinforcing the importance of education in transforming lives and communities.
The new space is expected to serve as a hub for educational activities, enabling students to expand their knowledge beyond the classroom. By providing access to books, computers, and other learning resources, the Hampton Court library is expected to play a critical role in helping students achieve their full potential.
