Ali’s phased-in free university education approach sounds more like political electioneering

Dear Editor,

President Irfaan Ali’s announcement his regime will phase in free university education is an insult to the university fraternity- past, present and potential students. Education in Guyana is a right, free from nursery to university, as outlined in Article 27 of the Constitution of Guyana and this was among the first rights the PPP regime transgressed when they came to office. The constitution is explicit at Article 27 (1) that “every citizen has the right to free education from nursery to university as well as at non-formal places where opportunities are provided for education and training.” There must be no phased-in approach to free education but full restoration, immediately, to bring relief to working families and children who are suffering to eke out a daily living and further having to pay school fees, whether deferred or present.

Free education was instituted by the Forbes Burnham administration, a right the trade union fought for and was taken away by the Cheddi Jagan government. The PPP was in breach of the constitution and remains in breach of the constitution. When the constitutional right of students was taken away, Guyana was not an oil producing economy, neither did students have the option of a phased-in paying system. And while Ali’s phased- in approach sounds more like an attempt at political electioneering, they must know they are doing Guyanese no favour, but righting a constitutional violation they have instituted and continue to commit. The introduction of fee-payment was an attempt to hinder the pursuit of higher education and the improvement of standard of living for the poor and workers, and a wicked political partisan attempt to erase the legacy of a previous administration they despised. They must right this wrong now. No piecemeal, no phased programme is acceptable; outstanding loans must be written off, and those who paid fees must be refunded. Furthermore, the nation can afford to pay for its children’s education from nursery to university.

When free education was introduced, it was out of recognition that education and access are important to development and to the extent where the PPP has denied this right, the party has undermined Guyana’s development trajectory. The regime needs to invest more in education that meets the needs of the new economy. And instead of spending heavily on external online universities, the regime should be building local capacity on an education system that caters for Guyana’s developmental needs. The mismanagement of Guyana’s education system is testimony of the PPP’s mismanagement of the nation and their lack of vision for the development of Guyana through free and accessible education.