Guyana to open more specialised secondary schools

Last Updated on Tuesday, 1 July 2025, 21:56 by Writer

President Irfaan Ali on Tuesday announced that Guyana would be opening more specialised secondary schools to complement existing institutions.

“Specialised education is an idea whose time is long overdue in Guyana. Specialised secondary education represents a new model of education in Guyana,” he said. Dr Ali said Guyana’s traditional schools, with their academic rigour and cultural legacy, would always remain pillars of the country’s education system.

He said those institutions now needed to be complemented with schools that specialise in the arts and creative industries, agriculture science, engineering and robotics, maritime studies, aviation technology and digital studies. “In short, we must diversify education the same way we are diversifying our economy,” he said.

He was addressing the commissioning of the St George’s School of Sciences which is now housed in a brand new GY$253 million custom-built facility that replaced the St George’s Secondary School that was destroyed by an electrical fire on July 20, 2022.

The President said the new science-focussed school would cultivate “deep expertise” in critical areas such as medicine, biotechnology and environmental science from an early age.

“The world is changing and Guyana must change with it,” he said. Dr Ali elaborated that Guyana needs a school of sciences to deliver science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) which is crucial for a technologically-driven world that needs problem solvers in several areas. They include oil and gas, climate resilience, biotechnology, artificial intelligence, health services and renewable energy. “Without a strong grounding in science, we risk becoming consumers rather than creators in the digital age,” he added.

Minister of Education Priya Manickchand said the children, who were placed at St George’s School of Sciences in 2024, had to achieve at least 70 percent in mathematics, 60 percent in English and 60 percent in science.

She said because government’s investments have produced “much better results” at the National Grade Six Assessment, new intakes at that school were now required to have 85 percent in mathematics, and 70 percent each in English and science. “We have some of our brightest children right here at St George’s and this is not my accident. The dream is that wherever we are teaching secondary education in any of those 40 schools…you must get the same education you could get in the traditionally top schools,” she said at the commissioning ceremony.

The books, laboratory, home economics and other supplies are provided to all schools.