Minister of Education Sonia Parag’s recent address to the UNESCO General Conference in Uzbekistan painted a glowing picture of Guyana’s education system, one that, according to her remarks, is “bridging inequality,” “ensuring no child is left behind,” and “transforming the workforce” through expanded access to scholarships, school construction, and financial support.
It was a stirring narrative. But for those who live and work within Guyana’s classrooms, communities, and after-school programs, it is a narrative that rings hollow. The truth is that academic equity in Guyana remains a more aspirational slogan than measurable reality.
Minister Parag cited nearly 40,000 scholarships awarded through the Guyana Online Academy of Learning (GOAL) as a symbol of unprecedented opportunity. Yet, the majority of these scholarships target adults seeking tertiary credentials, not children struggling to master reading, writing, and arithmetic. The minister must report how many of these scholarship students dropped out of the program.
Equity begins at the foundation, with early literacy, numeracy, and the ability to think critically. The 2024 NGSA results again laid bare the widening performance gap between coastal and hinterland learners and between public and private school students. When children in Regions One, Seven, Eight, and Nine continue to perform far below the national average, talk of academic equity becomes a statistical illusion. Meanwhile, the former minister of education Priya Manickchand still has not given an explanation for ‘incredulous’ results reported on standardized exams, especially in 2024.
The GOAL initiative, while commendable in intent, has often prioritized scale over substance. Many scholarship recipients face chronic connectivity problems, lack academic readiness for online coursework, or receive minimal learning support. A program cannot be judged by enrollment numbers alone, it must be judged by outcomes, completion rates, and the real-world value of the skills acquired.
By contrast, nations that have successfully advanced educational equity, such as Rwanda, Singapore, and Barbados, have done so by investing in teacher quality, digital inclusion, and personalized learning ecosystems. Guyana’s strategy, unfortunately, remains heavily focused on political optics rather than systemic modernization.
The “Because We Care” cash grant is an important short-term relief for families, but it does not resolve the structural inequities that leave thousands of children behind. No amount of financial assistance can substitute for quality instruction, teacher motivation, and student engagement.
A child in Baramita or Moruca is not being left behind because her parents lack GYD$55,000, she is left behind because her school lacks trained teachers, reliable internet, functioning labs, and a data-informed curriculum that meets 21st-century standards.
Guyana’s GYD$36 billion investment in school construction and rehabilitation sounds impressive. Yet, a modern building with outdated pedagogy remains a 20th-century classroom with 21st-century paint. Equity today requires innovation, not just infrastructure, classrooms that integrate AI tutoring, digital literacy, adaptive learning platforms, and teacher analytics. While the Minister spoke glowingly about Guyana’s view of Artificial Intelligence, the Ministry has yet to present a national framework for its integration into teaching and learning, teacher training, or student assessment.
Despite the talk of transformation, teacher morale is declining, learning gaps are widening, and too many of our brightest educators are leaving the system. Meanwhile, civil society and private innovators continue to fill the gaps left by government inaction. If Guyana were truly achieving educational equity, these programs would be institutional partners, not independent stopgaps.
Minister Parag’s UNESCO speech was eloquent and well-timed as Guyana seeks election to the UNESCO Executive Board. But speeches alone cannot mask the growing disparities within the system. The same government that praises inclusion at international forums has yet to address the exclusion of local educators, Indigenous leaders, and Afro-Guyanese communities from policy design and curriculum reform. Cultural diversity is not achieved through ceremony; it is achieved when all groups have equal access to learning, representation, and decision-making.
Academic equity cannot be achieved through cash transfers or political fanfare. It demands:A national education strategy that modernizes teaching and learning, serious investment in teacher training, data-driven instruction, and school leadership, integration of community-based programs into the national education ecosystem and transparent, measurable outcomes that go beyond speeches and headlines.
Until then, Guyana’s talk of equity remains just that, talk. The oil economy has given us the resources to reimagine education for every child, in every village, across every region. The question is whether we will use that opportunity to build systems that serve all Guyanese, or continue to dress old inequities in new language.
