Guyana’s oil wealth is creating unprecedented financial possibilities, but education specialist and STEM advocate Dr. Karen Abrams says the country’s long-term success will depend less on how much oil it produces and more on whether it develops the people capable of building, managing and owning the economy that follows.
Abrams, Executive Director and founder of STEMGuyana and founder of Pathway Academy Online, has been a local pioneer in applying artificial intelligence to STEM education, using technology, robotics and problem-based learning to expose young Guyanese to skills increasingly demanded by the global economy.
Writing in Kaieteur News on September 20, Abrams argues that Guyana’s oil boom presents an opportunity that could be squandered if educational inequalities and skills gaps are allowed to persist.
“Oil can make a country richer, but it cannot, by itself, make its people more capable.”
That distinction, she says, is becoming increasingly important as Guyana moves into an economy requiring engineers, software developers, energy specialists, data analysts, environmental scientists, technicians and workers capable of operating increasingly automated systems.
The challenge is particularly acute because Guyana has a small population. If the domestic education system does not produce enough skilled workers, Abrams warns, companies will still fill those positions, potentially relying increasingly on imported professionals while lower-skilled Guyanese face greater competition for jobs.
She argues that education must consequently be treated as a form of economic infrastructure.
“Roads, bridges, ports and power plants matter, but so do educated people.”
STEM Must Move Beyond the Classroom
Abrams says STEM education should not simply mean teaching science, technology, engineering and mathematics as separate subjects.
Its real value, she argues, comes when children use those disciplines to solve practical problems.
She points to students designing an irrigation system during drought as an example. Such a project could require knowledge of agriculture and water, mathematics to calculate flow rates, engineering to construct the system, electronics to monitor soil moisture and coding to determine when irrigation should begin.
“Suddenly mathematics, science and coding have a purpose, and students begin to understand that knowledge is something human beings use to solve problems.”
That approach is already being applied through STEMGuyana, where students engage with coding, robotics, electronics and other technologies while working on problems relevant to Guyana and the wider Caribbean.
Abrams says the objective is not to turn every child into a programmer or engineer.
“Every Guyanese child does not need to become a programmer or engineer, but every child deserves meaningful exposure to science, technology, engineering, mathematics, coding and problem-solving.”
Research supports the educational value of hands-on robotics and STEM learning. A 2026 meta-analysis covering 58 studies and 5,806 learners found meaningful improvements in cognitive and emotional learning outcomes associated with educational robotics.
AI Raises the Stakes
The rapid expansion of artificial intelligence makes the issue even more urgent.
Abrams says no one can confidently predict the exact labour market today’s children will enter. Some occupations will disappear or change, while entirely new professions emerge.
China has already moved to incorporate AI more systematically into education. Its Ministry of Education and other government agencies launched an “AI Plus Education” initiative, with a goal of developing a comprehensive AI education system by 2030. The programme includes AI education, teacher development and greater emphasis on creativity, critical thinking and problem-solving.
Abrams argues Guyana must ensure its children are not merely consumers of technology but become capable of creating and adapting it.
“At STEMGuyana, we want children building with technology rather than merely consuming it.”
That could mean developing systems to monitor soil moisture, rainfall, flooding or water quality, while applying technology to agriculture, healthcare, renewable energy and other local challenges.
Closing the Opportunity Gap
Abrams says Guyana cannot build a technology-driven economy while allowing educational opportunity to remain heavily dependent on where a child lives or the resources of a child’s family.
A child with reliable internet, technology, private lessons and educated parents can have a radically different educational experience from a child in a remote or low-income community.
She calls for trained teachers, functioning laboratories, community STEM clubs, competitions, private-sector mentors and technology that connects hinterland, rural, urban and vulnerable students to opportunities concentrated along the coast.
Early intervention is equally important, she says, particularly for children already falling behind.
The wider objective is to develop young people who can question information, evaluate evidence, communicate ideas, collaborate, adapt and solve unfamiliar problems.
Those capabilities will matter not only in technology careers but across agriculture, healthcare, construction, business, education and public service.
Abrams’ message ultimately places Guyana’s oil boom within a much larger human-development question.
“The great challenge of Guyana’s oil era is not simply how much oil we produce or how much money enters the Natural Resource Fund. It is what kind of people we develop while the oil is flowing.”
Her conclusion is both a warning and an opportunity.
“Oil is finite. Human capability is renewable.”
