by Randy Gopaul
At a recent Education Roundup meeting with the press, Minister of Education Priya Manickchand dismissed concerns about Guyana’s shockingly low secondary school matriculation rates. While data shows that less than 50% of children who start high school in Guyana finish, the Minister instead focused on an annual dropout rate of 10%, calling it “unacceptably high” but far from the figures being reported. She even claimed to have written to Stabroek News to challenge their reporting on the issue.
This is more than a semantic debate. The public is concerned with a straightforward question: How many children who begin secondary school actually finish? The answer to that question is clear—only about half. The Minister’s deliberate focus on an annual dropout rate does little to address the reality of a system that consistently fails to retain students through to graduation. Her response avoids addressing why so many children leave school early and what can be done to fix it.
In a nation on the cusp of transformation through its burgeoning oil economy, this level of obfuscation is not just irresponsible—it is a betrayal of the country’s future. Guyana cannot afford for half its children to leave school prematurely. A well-educated population is not a luxury; it is a necessity for a country looking to manage and benefit equitably from newfound wealth.
Building 37 new schools, as the Minister has touted, is meaningless if the students those schools are meant to serve are dropping out in droves. The priority must be on identifying why so many students are leaving school early and implementing systems to ensure they stay. This could mean addressing poverty, improving teacher training, or investing in student support services. It requires action, not spin.
What Guyana needs is an honest, clear-eyed assessment of the problem and a transparent, effective plan to fix it. If Priya Manickchand is unwilling or unable to deliver that, she should step aside and allow someone who can. The stakes are far too high to settle for anything less than real solutions.
