World Bank loans Guyana US$13.5M

Jan 27, 2021 News

Kaieteur News – Guyana’s development partner, the World Bank, on Monday announced its approval of a US$13.5 million loan for Guyana’s education sector. It said that the money is for the ongoing Secondary Education Improvement Project. The Bank said that Guyana’s financing from its International Development Association (IDA) is interest-free, with a maturity of 40 years, including a grace period of 10 years.
“The project,” the Bank said, “which aims to improve teaching in mathematics and increase enrollment in secondary schools, will provide equipment and training to support innovative technology-assisted education delivery methods. The additional financing will also be used to complete construction of two secondary schools, supply resources for those schools, and build a new secondary school.”
The World Bank quoted its own Resident Representative for Jamaica and Guyana, Ozan Sevimli, as saying “Guyana’s education sector has made significant progress in the last decade; however, strengthening learning outcomes remains a priority and the pandemic is hitting the education sector hard. Through the ongoing project, we are pleased to support the government in piloting use of technology and innovative ways of teaching, which are particularly relevant during distance learning. The new financing will support the pilot of a “smart classroom” initiative to help the sector build back better from the pandemic.”
The Secondary Education Improvement Project page on the World Bank’s website shows it dating back to June 4, 2014, when the Bank approved a loan for Guyana of US$10 million. It states that US$9.12 million of that commitment was disbursed as of December 31, 2020.
The original project, according to the Bank, has already developed mathematics standards for secondary school teachers, supported mathematics training for over 600 teachers, and distributed 200 mathematics teaching kits.
The additional financing has similar objectives to the first, extending the project to 2023. In addition, the Bank said it will provide more resources to an existing pilot program that uses adaptive learning software on tablets for mathematics education.
“The project emphasizes use of technology and higher quality math education, both of which are important to prepare Guyanese students for future employment,” the Bank noted.

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