Guyana’s education workforce experienced significant expansion over the past four years. An impressive 4378 teachers graduated from the Cyril Potter College of Education (CPCE).
With this many teachers, the government significantly increased the number of skilled educators and improved the quality of education delivered to students in classrooms.
The Minister of Education, Priya Manickchand, disclosed this impressive accomplishment at an of the year press briefing at the National Centre for Educational Resource Development (NCERD) in Georgetown on Friday.
The minister explained that the impressive statistics tell a “success story” of what sound government initiatives has been able to accomplish.
The minister noted that in past years, CPCE’s maximum annual graduation count amounted to only 535 graduates.
Both of the college’s largest cohorts, 1700 graduates in 2023 and 1502 in 2024, were accomplished under the current administration.
It also means that the number of teachers in schools are now trained and certified.
Prior to government interventions, teachers in the hinterland were forced to leave their homes in order to spend six years pursuing a degree – a drastic difference from coastal teachers who were only required to study for four years.
As a result, many prospective hinterland teachers were discouraged from furthering their education and the regions suffered from a lack of trained teachers.
Acknowledging the need to bridge the gap between the hinterland and the coast, the government made the degree programme more accessible.
And now, hundreds of hinterland teachers are able to receive their degrees and reap the benefits.
The education minister stated, “Teachers in the hinterland were always capable of doing the degree programme. They were always qualified to do the degree programme.”
Under President Dr Mohamed Irfaan Ali’s instruction, teachers holding doctoral degrees now receive an incentive of $32,000 per month while educators with post-graduate and master’s degrees are receiving 7,000 and $22,000 per month respectively.
The incentive for hinterland teachers also rose from $9,000 to $23,000 per month. (Department of Public Information)
