PUBLIC vs PRIVATE EDUCATION IN GUYANA

Public schools are run and owned by the Government of Guyana, while private schools are owned by individuals, who have to receive consent from the government and be registered by the Ministry of Education. In most areas the private Schools are better than the Public schools.

 Statistics have shown that children who attend private School have a better foundation than the children who attend public schools. One of the main reasons is the classroom size. Generally the size of classrooms in the private schools are smaller than those in the public schools, and the teachers at the private schools are better able to cope, whereas in the Public Schools, the classrooms are very large, and it is normally difficult for the teacher to impact on each student and the slow learners are left behind. Sometimes the child may not be a slow learner but because of the classroom size, he or she may not be seeing on the board clearly or hearing clearly. In a private setting the teacher would be able to easily identify a student with a problem. Also the highly rated private Secondary Schools ,example,  School of the Nation’s only take Trained Teachers. The “A” Grade public Secondary Schools such as Queen’s college, the Bishop’s High School always have a high academic performance at exams, but many of them came out of a private School foundation, and so they know what it is to strive for excellence.

In private primary schools such as Marian Academy and Mae’s Under 12 always have a high level of performance at the Secondary School’s Entrance Examination and they are the same children that enter the top 5 schools. The ratio of children who enter the top Secondary Schools is higher than the ratio of children who enter from the public Schools. One reason for this can be the quality of education that these children receive and the methods of teaching available to the students as compared to the teaching received in the public schools.

The classroom size is  another factor. In the public schools. The classrooms are twice the size of the Private Schools, so right away this might be a negative impact on students. The Teachers cannot target the students as they should and in some cases the teachers lack the training and experience to deal with large classrooms. Also the private schools do not take in more that they can handle. The environment in the Private Schools are better than those of the Public Schools. In the private Schools there are more recreational facilities (sports or outdoor facilities such as swings). Also in the Private Schools, teachers are held more accountable as parents demand a lot as they are paying for their children’s tuition and they want value for their money.

However Guyana’s performance has been good at C.X. C amidst the constraints, with the top Secondary Public and Private Schools taking the top spot. Guyana has won the C.X.C award for the best performance for the past five years.