This editorial was erroneous on several counts and corrections should be issued

Dear Editor,

The Ministry of Education is alarmed at the blatant misinformation and inconsistencies apparently aimed at misinforming contained in the recent editorials and articles published in the Stabroek News. We have noted a deliberate attack on the Minister of Education with more than 27 editorials written about her and the Ministry in the last months containing much misinformation and had previously put that down to petty, personalised journalism. In the interest of the children we serve, however, we are duty-bound to offer the public these corrections. In one editorial titled “Box”, published on the 11th day of February 2024, the newspaper said “…the Education Ministry does not negotiate wages and salaries…” This repeats in other editorials in the same newspaper when the paper was trying to make a particular point. Only the day after, in another editorial titled “Ministry in Disarray” when the paper is trying to make another point it says “the [education] ministry has failed, mainly due to low wages and poor working conditions….” Which one is it then SN? When one says something because it is convenient on that particular day, without regard for the truth, it is easy to conclude the effort was to deliberately mislead.

In only one editorial several other blatant inaccuracies are noted, some of which will be highlighted here. The claim that Guyana has “failed both absolutely and comparatively to other Caribbean education systems at CSEC and in tertiary enrolment” is preposterous. We ask how? The Caribbean has a tertiary enrolment rate of about 12-15% while Guyana has one at about 10-12% while Guyana spends half of what our counterparts spend on each tertiary student. The issue in Guyana has been accessibility, something by which the flat Caribbean islands are not hampered. The University of Guyana has set its sights and is working on making at least 1 out of every household a graduate by 2040 while the GOAL programme has offered 21,000 plus persons many of whom before had no such opportunity, the ability to access or attain tertiary education. Additionally, Guyana has one of the most robust TVET post-secondary programmes with another 6 new facilities being built out now in coastal and hinterland communities. Guyana has repeatedly topped the Caribbean, not only with the most outstanding student, but also in several areas such as sciences, humanities, business and TVET and continues to outshine our counterparts generally.

In 1990, Guyana’s pass rate in

Dear Editor,

Some 62 years ago, on February 16, infamously labelled ‘black Friday’, a budget riot was unleashed in British Guiana. This repulsive event was triggered by a national budget crafted on the advice of Nicholas Kaldor, an accomplished and internationally respected economist and who was invited to do so by Dr. Cheddi Bharrat Jagan (CBJ), then Premier and leader of the Peoples Progressive Party (PPP), the governing party. The Finance Minister at the time was Dr. Charles Ramkissoon Jacobs. CBJ felt that multinational corporations and the planter class were co-conspirators in an odious scheme that facilitated capital flight. The government also concluded that the tax structure was skewed in favour of the wealthy. Because of the CBJ’s unwavering support to Communism (Dr. Vishnu Bisram recently spelt this out in a newspaper letter published on February 9), and President Kennedy’s hard line commitment that there must never be another ‘Cuba’ in America’s backyard, loans and other financial support to British Guiana were resolutely blocked.

CBJ therefore turned to Dr. Kaldor who

Mathematics was 16.89% and in English, it was 13.36%, while the Caribbean’s pass rate in mathematics was 48.7% and in English, it was 65%. By 2022, Guyana’s pass rate in mathematics was 34.28% and in English 70.84% while in the Caribbean it was 37% and 74% respectively. Considering until recently Guyana has spent less on each child than her Caribbean counterpart how is this not comparable? From where is the SN getting its information? Another preposterous claim is that 50% of hinterland children drop out of high school. We ask where and when? This is not only a blatant untruth, but also insulting to the parents, teachers and children of the hinterlands. We have no such record and although the predictions around the world were that post Covid there would be significant learning loss and early school leaving, Guyana has not recorded anything close to what was predicted and nothing close to 50% that the SN claims. In 2022, we recorded a dropout rate of 12% (across levels) in the hinterland. Too high for us but far lower than the worldwide prediction for places with similar conditions and definitely far lower than the SN’s made up 50%. The SN makes a bold assertion that “there was not one Grade One pass for hinterland or riverine schools”. Again we ask from where the newspaper has gotten its information. We note that the same information was posted by Nigel Hughes who once told this nation that 33 was not bigger than 32 and that the court would vindicate his preposterous claim. We all know how that turned out.

One hundred and ninety-nine hinterland students in 2022 earned Grade Ones in various subjects. In 2023, 289 students earned Grade Ones. In any event everywhere in the Caribbean grades 1-3 are passes and we have seen remarkable increases in the pass rate in hinterland communities. We are aiming for far better and will get there. We are certain of this. But not in the most fertile imagination did had worked with the United Kingdom Tax Commission and also had advised governments in India and Ghana among others, to recommend measures to fund the country’s capital expenditure. The 1962 budget proposals included a fiscal regimen covering: Income tax assessment for commercial businesses, increase import duty on certain goods, a compulsory savings scheme linked to redeemable government bonds, increase in taxes on certain foods which could be adequately substituted locally. Of note, there was no salary increase announced for civil service workers. Opposition parties, the Peoples National Congress (PNC) and the United Force (UF) were led respectively by Linden Forbes Sampson Burnham (LFSB), and Peter Stanislaus D’Aguiar (PSD), were engaged in an aggressive campaign against the Kaldor/Jacobs budget. LFSB main focus was to ‘Axe the Tax’.

They were openly and directly supported by some sections of organised labour and the private media; and were also backed by anti-communist powerful states and their institutions, led by the United States. The 1962 budget was widely the students earn “zero grade ones” that the SN asserted. “Another measure worth considering is the retention of employees/ teachers. On this the ministry has also failed…. many teachers are simply heading overseas where they can enjoy a far higher salary...” is another unfounded, untruthful claim. The number of teachers resigning from both board and non-board schools across levels has been consistent. In 2019, there were 42 resignations, in 2020 there were 24 resignations (Covid year), in 2021, there were 30 resignations, in 2022 there were 33 resignations, in 2023, there were 38 resignations. In 2019, we graduated from the Cyril Potter College of Education 377. In 2023 we graduated 1,796 trained teachers. Where then is this massive bleed that the SN writes about? We could go through the editorials sentence by sentence and point out all the misinformation contained therein. But we believe the point is made.

We call on the newspaper to issue corrections and if they find that hard then at least to be careful with sticking to facts. Our children deserve no less. We remain available to offer statistics that we hope will be helpful and constructive in any nation-building conversation. Assuming of course that it was a constructive conversation for which the SN was aiming. Sincerely,

Anara Khan

Senior Public Relations Officer Ministry of Education

Editor-in-Chief’s note:

There was no contradiction between the editorials `Box’ of February 11th and `A ministry in disarray’ of February 10th on the question of salaries. One pointed out that the ministry was not responsible for negotiating salaries while the other said that the ministry had suffered as a result of low salaries.

As it relates to the claimed errors of fact, these will be examined and where necessary corrections will be issued. viewed as a measure to entrench communism and also touted as an attack on the downtrodden. It propelled a pledge by the business class and their political leader to oppose, expose and depose. Ironically, that said budget was applauded by the New York Times and the London Times but by the time those publications had hit the stands, it was too late to abandon the chain of events which were designed to destabilise BG. The genie was already out the bottle. It is alleged that in response to an appeal for consideration of a wage increase, CBJ said not a penny more or something to the effect. I have not found anything to substantiate this utterance and am therefore asking if anyone knows this for a fact to inform yours truly accordingly.

Ralph Seeram in his piece “From the diaspora…Kaldor Budget and Black Friday February 16, 1962”, published in one of the dailies quoted from the Wynn Parry Commission report and portrayed LFSB as the leading (perhaps only) protagonist that whipped anti-budget and anti Jagan supporters into a feeding frenzy to satisfy an induced thirst for demonstrations and disorder. The mayhem of black Friday was followed by riots and killings involving mainly Africans and Indians. I was told by an eyewitness that a major public event which help set the stage for the first wave of riots on February 16, 1962 started immediately after a group comprising mainly non-Indians and nonAfricans was emotionally addressed from the balcony of the Ice House opposite Stabroek Market by PAD, a nonIndian/non-African political leader. He then came out to Water Street and led a procession with vociferous chants of “Jack go back” (reference to CBJ advisor, Jack Kelshall).

The gathering stopped at several business places including Bettencourt’s and Fogarty’s where managers and employees closed their doors and joined the demonstration which followed a route to Parade Ground. They stopped at the office on Carmichael Street and called out LFSB from his office to join the procession. He came outside, was photographed with PAD and went back inside. He subsequently went to the ground and addressed the meeting. Editor, in the aftermath of the 2024 national budget, there is currently a strike by teachers in all the administrative regions of Guyana for what they describe as a salary to adequately make ends meet in this fastest growing economy. There seems to be a hardening of positions on both sides. Space will not permit me to analyse and compare the contextual underpinning of today’s post budget industrial relations reaction etc. with that of 62 years ago. However, permit me to make one brief observation. A neighbouring nation is making a serious play for a large chunk of Guyana and her natural resources. In the world of geopolitics, there are more questions than answers in real time.

Somehow, I am driven to recall and reflect on the contents of a book to which I was introduced in 1987. The author, Barbara W. Tuchman, outlined in detail four decisive turning points in history which illustrate the very heights of recklessness: The Trojan war, the breakup of the Holy See provoked by the Renaissance Popes, the loss of the American colonies by Britain’s King George 111, and the United States persistent mistakes in Vietnam. The publication is appropriately titled ‘The March of Folly: From Troy to Vietnam’. It was George Santayana who stated “Those who do not remember the past are condemned to repeat it”. Sincerely,

Derrick Cummings