UG’s funding increases by 160% as education sector allocated $175B in 2025 budget

Jan 18, 2025 News

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By Allyiah Allicock

Kaieteur News- With the government announcing that the University of Guyana (UG) is free from this month, an allocation of $13.1 billion has been budgeted to finance the institution’s operations.

Minister of Finance Dr. Ashni Singh told the National Assembly during the 2025 reading of the national budget that the university’s allocation is part of the $175 billion budgeted for the education sector this year.

Dr. Singh stated that with university education being free, in excess of 11,000 current students and all new students will benefit.

“This will relieve students of having to bear the cost of university education at UG, whether by way of cash or student loan,” he mentioned.

Last year, $5.2 billion was allocated to UG. However, with the abolition of tuition fees, this year, the government has allotted $13.1 billion to finance the university’s operations, representing a 160 per cent increase from last year.

Regarding the university also, the minister said that in making university education more accessible and affordable, his government has begun Phase 1 of the debt write-off process for persons with outstanding UG student loans.

“To date, $1.8 billion in loans were written off for over 2,700 persons, and we continue to urge persons to apply for their loan write off so they can be relieved of this historic obligation,” he informed.

Highlighting areas in which the $175 billion allocated to the education sector will be expended on, the minister said upgrading and expanding schools’ infrastructure is priority.

According to Dr. Singh, when the Peoples Progressive Party Civic (PPPC) returned to office in 2020, it was recognized that the education system faced significant shortage of spaces for students across the country and expansion and improvements were needed to teachers living quarters in the hinterland.

“In the last four years, in an effort to address these issues, we built, rebuilt, expanded and improved educational facilities countrywide,” he related.

Providing a brief breakdown on some of the projects, the minister disclosed that over 30 new nursery schools were built, seven reconstructed, four extended while construction is ongoing for over 25 more new nursery schools.

Similarly, over 15 new primary schools were built, nine reconstructed, 17 extended while construction is ongoing for 11 more new primary schools.

At the secondary level, he detailed that construction of the Good Hope, Westminster and Yarrowkabra secondary schools have been completed while five have been reconstructed. Construction of over 20 secondary schools is ongoing.

With the aggressive projects, the finance minister said that more than 8,000 additional spaces have been created for the nation’s children.

Continuing the building of schools this year such as for Baitoon, Kako, La Bagatelle, Mibicuri and Rockstone nursery, Augsbury, Charity, Redcreek and 58 Miles primary, Jawalla, Kopinang, and Monkey Mountain just to name a few, the finance minister shared that $36.2 billion is set aside to advance these projects.

Speaking on the National Breakfast Programme which provided meals for Grade Three to Six pupils in the coastal regions, the minister said that over the last four years, $10 billion was spent on the programme, of which $4.9 billion was spent in 2024. This year, he said a further $5.5 billion is allocated to finance the programme.

As it relates to accessibility to textbooks and classroom resources, Dr. Singh announced that in 2025, almost $2 billion is allocated for reading and workbooks at the nursery level and to replenish textbooks at the primary and secondary levels, while $3 billion is allocated to continue the distribution of school grants in 2025.

Regarding the Guyana Online Academy of Learning (GOAL) which has since offered 29,758 scholarships for persons to pursue online studies at several universities across the world, the government this year has allotted $4.4 billion.

Similarly, rolling out the Guyana Coursera National Training programme, this year approximately $363 million has been budgeted.

Additionally, in 2024, the Government launched the One Guyana Digital program which is designed to train citizens in high demand ICT skills. The Senior Minister said on Friday in 2025, $1.8 billion is allocated to support an additional 1,500 students under this initiative.

Kaieteur News understands that under the Board of Industrial Training (BIT), approximately $2 billion was spent to train 12,768 persons over the last four years. This year, the government has allotted $677.5 million.

Meanwhile, on the TVET initiative, with $2.4 billion spent in 2024, a further $2.6 billion is allocated to expand access to the training this year.

(UG’s funding increases by 160% as education sector allocated $175B in 2025 budget)

(UG’s funding increases)

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• Dr. Ashni Singh, Government, National Assembly, student loan, university education

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