Govt. must do more to address inequity of education in hinterland communities – AFC Leader

Sep 10, 2024 News

Kaieteur News – Leader of the Alliance For Change (AFC) Nigel Hughes on Friday called on the Government of Guyana to implement measures that will ensure that there is equity in the delivery of education across the country.

The Alliance For Change (AFC) Leader, Nigel Hughes

At the party’s weekly press conference, Hughes said that the disparity in the delivery of education between the coast and the hinterland seems to be widening and the Ministry of Education must do more to remedy that.

Hughes believes that there should be a closure of the gap, then the country’s pass rates at the Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate (CSEC) examinations would be significantly boosted.

“Going back to 2022, where Guyana topped the Caribbean with some students getting twenty-four A’s and the hinterland and the riverine community having none, we believe that this disparity continues and the disparity discloses, I dare say apartheid in education in which the Indigenous communities clearly are losing, they are (at) the wrong end of that stick,” Hughes, who is also an Attorney said.

He believes that “there needs to be an immediate intervention in relation to the quality of education that is given to Indigenous communities.”

The AFC leader told reporters that given the “empirical evidence” he believes that children on the coast and in the hinterland must be taught the same material and have access to the same learning opportunities.

“That means we have to have qualified teachers there (in Indigenous Communities). We have to make sure that the members of that community… the teachers who are members of that community also get the best quality education that will allow them to return to their community to teach.”

Hughes commended the Government for its “good initiative” to arrest the country’s declining mathematics pass rates by ramping up the teaching periods allotted across primary and secondary schools.

Notwithstanding, he said more needs to be done to address the gaps that exist.

“So Mr. President (President Irfaan Ali) while you’re dealing with Maths, I would say equally important is deal with the discrimination in relation to the quality of education received by the Indigenous community,” Hughes concluded.

• AFC, coastal communities, education, hinterland communities, Nigel Hughes