Dear Editor,
The recent article of November 7, 2025, highlighting the exceptional regional achievements of students from Queen’s College at CAPE and CSEC, is on its face, a cause for national celebration. I therefore take this opportunity to extend my genuine congratulations to these scholars and their families for their remarkable dedication and success.
However, the subsequent narrative advanced by the Ministry of Education under Minister Sonya Parag and her predecessor Minister Priya Manickchand, which frames these individual accomplishments as evidence of systemic excellence, demands to be rigorously challenged. When all of the propaganda is cleared and the real truth is unearthed, the more troubling reality will reveal a system that is profoundly and persistently unequal between a handful of elite institutions and the vast majority of Guyana’s secondary schools.
With 214 public and 57 private secondary schools constituting the bulk of our national secondary school system, the exclusive celebration of one school raises a critical question: are we acknowledging genuine nationwide progress, or merely using isolated successes to camouflage systemic failure? The record of the former Minister of Education, Ms. Priya Manickchand, must be evaluated on the latter metric, which reveals a legacy of inadequate progress in elevating educational outcomes for the average Guyanese student. The current Minister Parag is new, she cannot be saddled with this burden so soon, she is still on honeymoon. So this fairytale and misrepresentation is on Minister Priya and if there was any reason to get her out of the education sector; this was it.
The Ministry’s communiqué, while praising top performers, functions as a public relations exercise that insults the intelligence of citizens. To celebrate elite achievements while the foundation of our education system erodes for the majority is not merely disingenuous; it represents a fundamental abdication of the government’s duty to provide equitable education. This is the legacy of Minister Priya Manickchand.
The notion that “Guyana continues to excel on the regional stage” is a misleading half-truth. Queen’s College is not representative of the Guyanese educational system. Empirical evidence from Region 9 illustrates the point: between 2023 and 2025, matriculation rates at Aishalton, Annai, Sand Creek, and St. Ignatius Secondary Schools have declined from 67%, 58%, 66%, and 52% respectively to approximately 56%, 48%, 49%, and 45%, respectively. This regression in the Rupununi occurs against the backdrop of nearly 12,000 students sitting national examinations in this nation at the CSEC and CAPE level. The data compellingly demonstrates a system in distress, one that cannot be redeemed by a few exemplary results.
Let us be unequivocal in our analysis:
Isolated Excellence is Not Systemic Health: The success of students from premier schools, while commendable, is often facilitated by significant private investment from their parents and private tutoring that has nothing to do with the offering of the school system. Their achievements are a testament to personal merit and privilege, not validation of the Ministry’s efficacy. To leverage these results as proof of a thriving national system is a cynical misrepresentation and a patent falsehood.
The Legacy is Deepening Inequity: The true, “distinguished legacy” of recent administrations in the Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Local Government (which administer the affairs in the outlying areas) is the neglect of students in Regions 1, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, and 10. What of the chronic shortages of qualified and present teachers, functional laboratories and other critical pedagogical assets to allow for enhanced performance? The Ministry’s stated “firm focus on expanding opportunities” remains an empty slogan for children in “primary tops” and under-resourced regional secondary schools, who face a vastly different reality from their QC counterparts.
Selective Celebration Amidst Widespread Challenge is Indefensible: It is the height of incongruity for the Ministry to publicize regional toppers while remaining silent on abysmal pass rates in core subjects across the country. Where is the accountability for the schools where not a single student passes five CSEC subjects? This is not leadership; it is the management of perception at the expense of genuine educational development. So as the Ministry spreads its propaganda, they are only serving to destroy the future of this nation since our future is our children and how functionally literate and well matriculated they are.
Therefore, we must state clearly:
· We condemn the stance of the former Minister of Education, Ms Priya Manickchand, for presiding over a system of extreme educational disparity while claiming success based on the performance of a privileged minority. Let us hope the current Minister Ms Sonya Parag will fix this mess.
· We condemn the chronic institutional failure of the Ministry of Education to resolve core issues of quality teacher recruitment, infrastructure decay, and equitable curriculum delivery. One only have to look at the WIN Team Page on Facebook to see how many cases Mr. Azruddin Mohamed and his team have exposed for lack of timely attention especially the forgotten Hinterland Schools.
· We condemn the political strategy of using exceptional students as a shield to deflect from decades of systemic neglect. This is wickedness and evil on the part of the Education Authorities.
The government appears to be cultivating a two-tiered education system: one for a select elite and another for the masses. Until the Ministry can demonstrate tangible improvement in national pass rates and the average student’s learning environment, its celebrations will remain a hollow spectacle. The people of Guyana deserve an education system that serves every child, not just a fortunate few. They can do well to study and implement the Barbados and Jamaica system of learning in Guyana.