Over 2,500 farmers, agro-processors accessing certified agro-processing facilities

Over 2,500 farmers, agro-processors, wholesalers and retailers now have access to certified agro-processing facilities in their regions, as the government through the Ministry of Agriculture makes significant strides in expanding the industry.

According to information provided to the Department of Public Information (DPI), some 12 agro-processing facilities have been established in several administrative regions to date.

These food processing factories were established in Regions One, Two, Three, Four, Five, Nine, and Ten, under the leadership of Minister, Zulfikar Mustapha.

In addition, over 140 new local products have been introduced to the Guya- nese market through the new Guyana Marketing Corporation (GMC).

As a result of the significant investments in these areas, the agro-processed export earnings earned the country some $897 million, with a 61 per cent increase in the export volume from 1,071 metric tonnes in 2021 to 1,724 metric tonnes in 2022.

Apart from investing in the agro-processing industry, the government is also investing billions in the gas-to-energy project located in Wales, Region Three.

When this project comes on stream, it is expected to further advance the local agro-processing industry, which will bring significant benefits to the country, including employment oppor- tunities and increased trade in Guyana.

The government has been investing heavily in the food sector to ensure it moves from a producer of primary farming to one of equitable value-added products. The establishment of the food processing hub is part of the government’s wider strategic plan to provide massive resources for the nation’s agriculturists to produce and export value-added products.

It is also part of the matrix of training opportunities for Guyanese in all aspects of economic activity.

Importantly, it will contribute to achieving CARICOM’s goal of reducing the billion dollars food important bill by 25 per cent by the year 2025.

The Ministry of Education is predicting a better retention rate in schools with the slew of measures being implemented to address absenteeism.

Retention rate is a measure of the proportion of students who continue their studies after their first year.

Minister, Priya Manickchand made the disclosure during a recent interview. She said when the ‘Because We Care’ cash grant programme was reinstated, the number of students attending classes improved and more students were registered in the public education system. “You (a student) have to be on the register and attending school, so, if you don’t come to school, then you don’t get the grant. That has really brought people out and had people registering. We have ery in tourism and buoyant remittances.

Overall, the Caribbean region is set to expand by 5.1 per cent in 2023. “The subregion’s outlook partly reflects the oil boom in Guyana, where GDP is expected to grow by 25.2 per cent this year and 21.2 per cent in 2024 as production at new oil fields continues to ramp up,” the report states.

$1.5M Youth Entrepreneurship Programme being rolled out in secondary schools

More young Guyanese are being afforded the opportunity to partake in Guyana’s business sector, with the expansion of the Youth Entrepreneurship Programme being launched in secondary schools nationwide.

This year, the Small Business Bureau (SBB) in collaboration with the Ministry of Education will be rolling out the programme to 15 schools countrywide at the Grade Ten level.

The students are being guided on how to create business plans and most importantly, will have the opportunity to receive assistance from the SBB to start-up their businesses.

The programme is a stepping stone for them to achieve their entrepreneurial goals.

also seen with other efforts to try to look for children individually, who are being absent from schools,” she pointed out.

Also, ‘Operation Recovery’ was piloted initially within the 11 Education districts to find primary school students who were absent since schools reopened fully and those who missed the National Grade Six Assessment (NGSA) mock examinations.

The programme was expanded to place a heavy focus on students at all levels who continue to be absent from the classrooms.

Minister Manickchand explained that the COVID-19 pandemic has impacted the education sector in two fundamental ways: loss of instructional time and learning loss due to schools being closed for over 18 months, as such, this measure was undertaken. “I think we’ve tried to hold our own and we have held on our own on the dropouts issue but that’s a lot of work that went into that,” the minister expressed.

Currently, the education ministry has hired personnel in 80 of the 116 high schools across Guyana who are responsible for informing the ministry when a child is absent from the classrooms. This, she said, is expected to improve the retention rate in Guyana. “We’re hiring where we don’t have, staff dedicated to counselling, guidance in career counselling as well as psychological counselling. As soon as the child leaves, we’re supposed to know,” the education minister explained.

The enrollment exercise, which commenced in March has already been launched at eight learning institutions, including Kwakwani, Annai, St. Ignatius and Aishalton Secondary Schools.

It is aimed at helping students to develop an entrepreneurial attitude and to get them to effectively participate in the business world.

SBB’s Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Shazim Ibrahim said the initiative was introduced in schools due to the need for the development of entrepreneurship skills. He said, “We see the need for entrepreneurship in young people and that’s how we came up with the idea to do the programme with grade 10 students…so that they can start thinking about entrepreneurship. And so, with that, we collaborated with the Ministry of Education.”

Ibrahim explained that the programme is reaching Grade 10 students and having a positive impact on their attitudes. “We are only choosing two projects from each school to fund. The teachers of the schools will mark the business plan put together by the students and submit only six to us,” the CEO added.

He explained that when the two projects from the schools are chosen, they will be funded in two phases.

The first phase will consist of half of the total fund being given to the students, while the other half will be given when works commence on the projects.

Ibrahim also said a total of $1.5 million was budgeted by the SBB to help initiate these business projects. The programme will be rolled out to more schools subsequently.

Several secondary schools to be completed by September – Manickchand

Construction works are being accelerated on several secondary schools nationwide to comfortably accommodate students by this September.

This was disclosed by Minister of Education, Priya Manickchand at the $688.1 million contract signing ceremony to reconstruct Christ Church Secondary School, in the ministry’s boardroom on June 7, 2023.

Among the learning institutions to be completed are Queen’s College, Bish- op’s High, St Rose’s High, Good Hope, Yarrowkabra, Abram’s Zuil, East Ruimveldt, and St Winifred’s Secondary schools.

“This will allow us to accommodate, significantly, more children. North Ruimveldt should be finished by October of this year. Even as we are doing that, we are rebuilding Christ Church, the cabinet recently offered its no objection for St George’s High…St Mary’s and some hinterland schools with dorms and teachers’ quar - ters,” Minister Manickchand told reporters.

The ministry’s Permanent Secretary, Alfred King said contractors have started the process of putting systems in place. He said the construction of these facilities will serve to provide access to quality secondary education thereby achieving universal education.

Meanwhile, construction began on the $1.7 billion state-of-the-art Karasabai Secondary School in Region