Latest update September 11th, 2026 10:15 AM
Granger reiterates call for “one lap top per teacher” at CSEC graduation
– Says teaching should be best paid profession in public service
By Rabindra Rooplall
Leader of the Opposition, Brig David Granger, reiterated his call for “one lap top per teacher” at the recent Cyril Potter College of Education (CPCE) graduation.
He said that Guyana cannot afford to be left behind especially in the world of communication and the education revolution which is transforming the rest of the world.
David Granger speaking to graduands at the CPCE convocation
These sentiments were expressed at the CPCE 78th convocation exercise at the National Cultural Centre (NCC) Tuesday evening. Of the 862 graduates, 103 were men.
Adding that the teachers’ qualification only represents a drop in the ocean of experience in their lives as teachers over the next 30 years of their career, Granger said that teaching is the greatest profession in this nation.
There will be many challenges. “We shall continue to work to ensure that every student teacher and every teacher gets one lap top per teacher whether they are in the hinterland or the coastland…the computer in 2012 is like the blackboard in 1912; you can’t do without it.”
Granger had previously announced the “one laptop computer per teacher” project as part of the party’s manifesto.
He said that Guyana is a country of bright prospects, and teachers have an unprecedented opportunity facing them. Thus, the country cannot be developed by chance and conjecture. “This cannot be achieved while a large section of the population is paralyzed by poverty; this cannot be achieved by ignorance and illiteracy; this cannot be achieved while so many primary school children cannot qualify into secondary school, this cannot be achieved while thousands of children drop out of primary and secondary schools every year, this cannot be achieved when school leavers cannot find jobs.
“This can only be achieved by people with a first class education, with an education nation that would bring all of our people together in a knowledge based society with a combination of energies integrating our communities, and working together for the common good, rather than pulling apart.”
“Dark forces, the forces of poverty, the forces of oppression, the forces of hatred threaten to pull us apart. An educated nation ought to be one in which intelligence prevails over ignorance, one in which cooperation prevails over confrontation, and one in which national integration prevails over common disintegration.”
Underscoring the importance of qualifications, he questioned “Which one of you would fly a plane with an unqualified pilot? Which one of you would allow yourselves to be operated on in the hospital by an untrained or unqualified surgeon? Then, why should children have untrained or unqualified teachers? Every single teacher should become a university graduate in Guyana at all levels.”
Adding that poor pay contributed to the intolerable turnover rates for teachers, Granger said that teaching should be the best paid profession in the entire public service. “We want Guyana’s best teachers to remain right here.” He said that the graduates passed through ancient academic rite of passage.
He added that the graduates are now members of an elite educational club, and this represents a completion of rigorous studies. It marks a declaration of the aspiration to accomplish a mission to provide the formal education system with professionally trained teachers at all levels.
“The quaint garb you are wearing at the elaborate convocation, the fancy certificates, the happy gathering of families, friends and dignitaries, they are not an annual amusement, but serious matters that signify public recognition of your assumption of wider responsibilities; they signify transition to a higher level of authority and acceptance of a heavier burden of duty.” Granger stressed.
Guyana needs engineers to build bridges and roads to open the hinterland; geologists to exploit bauxite, diamond, gold, manganese and quarrying resources and biologists, botanists, zoologists and agriculturists and other scientists to expand food production. He challenged the education system to produce the scientists without whom this country cannot be developed.
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