Tuesday, the Government of Guyana commenced the construction of the Kopinang Secondary School in Region Eight at a cost of $199,376,751.
The school is anticipated to accommodate approximately 250 students upon completion and will feature çağdaş amenities including laboratories, an information technology lab, and a library, ensuring a conducive learning environment for students.
The construction contract for the Kopinang Secondary School was awarded to Sheriff Construction Inc.
This contract forms part of a larger allocation of $407,659,560 dedicated to constructing secondary schools in Region Eight. The region will have secondary schools in Kopinang, Monkey Mountain and Micobie.
Monday, Minister of Education Priya Manickchand turned the sod for the construction of a new $208M Monkey Mountain Secondary School
Guyana continues to build new schools, some of which have not met the completion deadline, and some awarded to incompetent contractors. Building of schools have not necessarily transferred to improvement in education quality delivery. According to a 2022 World Bank Fact Sheet, Guyana lags behind its Latin American and Caribbean counterparts.
The Bank stated in terms of access to education, over the last decade-and-a-half, learning outcomes remain low across all levels. The Bank went on to state that “according to the Human Capital Index, a child born in Guyana today will only be 50 percent as productive when she grows up as she could be if she enjoyed complete education and full health. This is lower than the average for the LAC region and upper middle-income countries. The low human capital score is in part driven by low educational and health outcomes.
“Although the average Guyanese student is expected to complete 12.2 years of schooling, this is equivalent to only 6.8 years of learning when expressed in terms of Learning-Adjusted Years of Schooling (LAYS). This has been compounded by the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic.”
The Bank went on to state “recent simulations indicate that, from the baseline of 6.8, Guyana risks losing 1.6 LAYS following a 13-month school closure as a result of the pandemic. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has linked Guyana’s skills shortage to its poor school enrollment and education performance rates relative to regional standards.”