President Donald Ramotar says equity in education is important to the development of any economy, hence his government’s efforts to achieve universal secondary education.

He alluded to the investments in hinterland communities, where schools were previously non-existent.

“We are also working very hard to ensure that we try to achieve at the earliest possible time universal secondary education, we already achieved universal primary education we’re building a new school in Kato Mountians, that’s in Region 8 with a dormitory, we’ve just started a new school in Sand Creek and all of those remote areas to give children an opportunity to have secondary education.”

He said the demand for quality education is increasing, even as government works to ensure every child attends school. He noted that the country has moved a far way from when only thirty percent of the population had access secondary education.

President Ramotar acknowledged the challenges faced by the education ministry, but added that systems are in place to have these rectified. Access to secondary education in hinterland communities has improved significantly over the past twenty years.

The Anna Regina Multilateral School, while not in the hinterland, caters for Amerindian communities in Region two. The provision of universal access to secondary education is among the new wave of commitments by the government.

This is driven by the large influx of children coming out of primary schools, now that Guyana has achieved universal primary education. This has been attributed to a number of initiatives, including the national school feeding programme and the school uniform distribution programme.