Building Guyana’s Future Through STEM: Education, Innovation and the Road Ahead

Sep 20, 2026 Features / Columnists, News

(Kaieteur News) – Guyana has entered the 21st century with an extraordinary economic opportunity. Oil has expanded the country’s financial possibilities and created expectations of new industries, better infrastructure, higher wages and improved living standards. Yet beneath all this optimism lies a fundamental question: who will have the skills to build, operate and eventually own this new Guyanese economy?

Oil can make a country richer, but it cannot, by itself, make its people more capable. That distinction matters because Guyana is attempting to build a modern economy while carrying deep educational inequalities into the future. A child growing up with educated parents, reliable internet, private lessons and access to technology experiences a very different educational environment from a child in a remote community or low-income household. Our assessments repeatedly warn us that too many children who begin behind remain behind.