Last Updated on Tuesday, 24 February 2026, 17:52 by Writer
ExxonMobil on Monday launched a 10-year US$100 million science, technology, and mathematics (STEM) initiative that would see the roll-out of several projects and programmes for children and teachers, according to Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of the American oil major Darren Woods.
” Over the next decade, the Guyana STEM initiative will train thousands of educators and reach tens of thousands of students across the country, transforming Guyana’s STEM talent pipeline and developing a new generation of engineers, scientists, and leaders ready to shape Guyana’s future and importantly, open doors to bigger and better opportunities for everyone,” he said at a dinner held at State House, the official residence of Guyana’s president.
Mr Woods said the money would be used over the next 10 years to reinvent and strengthen STEM education across Guyana.
On the drawing board would be the launch of a comprehensive teacher training for secondary math and science education in collaboration with the Ministry of Education and the University of Guyana.
The ExxonMobil chief also said the initiative would see the establishment of a nationwide network of student STEM centres with the first starting in Georgetown at the University of Guyana in 2028 or 2029.
He said those centres would provide hands-on STEM learning for teens and young adults across the country and would mirror a successful model that President Ali visited in the States last year.
“Our goal is very simple: inspiring the next generation of Guyana’s engineers and scientists by working with the students and the teachers who educate them,” he said.
President Irfaan Ali, in his remarks, insisted on the need for the STEM centre to be completed by 2028. “I don’t think there’s much room to manoeuvre beyond 2028,” he said.
Guyana’s next general and regional elections would be held in late 2030 or 2031.
He, however, said the training of trainers, teachers and facilitators would be rolled out almost immediately.
Dr Ali said the UG Turkeyen Campus was picked to build the centre which would mirror one in Houston, Texas, United States to elevate what STEM education is for the younger children so that they could be in a campus setting from a very young age. “One of the things that they are going to do is train our teachers so that we can produce incredible results in mathematics in the secondary schools. That is part of this program…this is a really great moment for the education sector,” he added.
The media learned of the event by way of a delayed live stream on the President’s Facebook page on Tuesday morning.
Attendees included government ministers, members of the private sector, high-ranking officers of the Guyana Defence Force and Guyana Police Force, top officials of ExxonMobil and the United States embassy in Guyana.
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