Latest update March 2nd, 2026 12:30 AM
ExxonM pledges US$100M for STEM
…Director says education gaps must be addressed
(Kaieteur News) Chairman and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of ExxonMobil Corporation, Darren Woods has announced a US$100 million funding to advance Guyana’s Science, Technology and Mathematics (STEM) initiative across Guyana.
Woods made the disclosure during a welcome reception at State House, hosted by President Irfaan Ali. Woods and other executive members of the board are in Georgetown for the company’s board meeting.
Chairman and CEO of ExxonMobil Corporation, Darren Woods on Monday evening announced a US$100M funding for STEM initiatives in Guyana during a welcome reception at State House.
On Monday evening, Woods in the company of other company executives explained that the investment over the next decade will be used specifically for training hundreds of teachers at the secondary level, and establishing STEM centers across the country to benefit learners.
“We will establish a nationwide network of student STEM centers, first starting in Georgetown at the University of Guyana somewhere around 2028-2029. These centers will provide hands-on STEM learning for teens and young adults across the country and will mirror a successful model that President Ali visited in the states last year,” Woods said.
Underscoring the importance of the project, the Exxon CEO noted, “STEM is the foundation for every modern society. These disciplines will help power Guyana’s success in the 21st century.”
President Ali also elaborated the importance of education as an important tool in advancing Guyana’s development story. He said, “…the education agenda, the training agenda is critically linked to the pathway we are deliberately taking in advancing our country forward. It’s a pathway of innovation, education and entrepreneurship and that pathway is better designed when you have a well-equipped and well-trained work force.”
Meanwhile, in an invited comment, director of STEM Guyana, a private organization, Karen Abrams suggested that the resources be funneled through broader initiatives to help students that may be struggling in Science and Mathematics.
She told this newspaper, “There are several issues which impact the ability of our students to excel in STEM education and many of these variables do not sound STEM-related. They are variables like having parents at home who have decent jobs, counseling for those who are stressed out so that they can parent properly (and) recreational facilities.”
The STEM director pointed out that Guyana is struggling with a “massive literacy” issue. This she said gravely affects a child’s ability to matriculate. “If students can’t read, they can’t do math, they can’t do STEM, they can’t innovate,” she pointed out.
Director of STEM Guyana, Karen Abrams
In addition to literacy challenges, Abrams highlighted a grave challenge with numeracy, with children both locally and across the region struggling in Mathematics.
To this end, she explained, “Those are all issues, they don’t sound very STEM related but they tie directly into STEM so as far as I’m concerned, I am supportive of it. I hope that we are engaged, our organisation has been here 10 years…we have seen outstanding results so I hope that we would at some point be included in the conversation.”
Abrams told this newspaper that she hopes some of the resources from Exxon could be streamlined to the areas that she outlined to be able to have a broader impact.
“If the idea is just to push it into STEM related clubs and activities, you miss the whole point. That would only benefit the students who are doing well which is a small group of students…we need to be able to put more of our young people in the pipeline for higher paying jobs and in order to do that, we have to look at some of these other variables which affect student learning and how many students will go into STEM,” the director urged.
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