Guyana is a small state of the Commonwealth with a population of just under 800,000. It is the only Commonwealth nation on mainland South America. Enrolment rates are high for both primary and secondary education. 

School-age Population by Education Level1

74,974

 

82,414

Secondary

 

Tertiary

 

 

Gross Enrolment Ratio (GER) in Secondary Education
for the school year ending 20121

99.2%

 

96.3%

Female

 

Male

 

 

Gross Enrolment Ratio (GER) in Tertiary Education
for the school year ending 20121

15.4%

 

7.8%

Female

 

Male

 

 

Percentage of female teachers in 1

70.9%

 

52.7%

Secondary (2012)

 

Tertiary (2012)

 

 

1. UNESCO Institute for Statistics Data Centre, retrieved in March 2020

 

Literacy rate (2009)1

87.25%

 

82.44%

Adult (15+) literacy rate
Female

 

Adult (15+) literacy rate
Male

 

 

Economic Activity (2014)1

48%

 

81%

Adult (15+) economic activity
Female

 

Adult (15+) economic activity
Male

 

 

Political Decision Making (2014)1

31%

Proportion of seats held by women in national parliament

 

 

Life expectancy (2012)1

67

 

60

Female

 

Male

 

 

1. COL gender country profile April 2015 

 

17.5 83
Fixed-telephone subscriptions per 100 inhabitants1 Mobile-cellular subscriptions per 100 inhabitants1

 

 

  
8.4 26.4
Fixed-broadband subscriptions per 100 inhabitants1 Mobile-broadband subscriptions per 100 inhabitants1

 

 

  
33.5 37.3
Households with a computer (%)1 Individuals using the internet (%)1

 

 

1. International Telecommunication Union (ITU) ICT Eye Country profile, retrieved in March 2020

Highlights

The Commonwealth of Learning’s (COL) work in Guyana is primarily in the areas of higher education and tertiary education, through the Virtual University for Small States of the Commonwealth. 

Higher education

COL’s Higher Education initiative works to develop human resources for social and economic development across the Commonwealth. It supports higher education institutions and ministries in capacity building, policy development and curriculum reform. COL is working with University of Guyana (UG) to offer the Commonwealth Executive Masters in Business Administration and Commonwealth Executive Masters in Public Administration (CEMBA/CEMPA) Programme. UG also holds a seat on the Executive Governing Board and Academic Board of the programme. Learn more about the Higher Education initiative. 

Virtual University for Small States of the Commonwealth

Guyana is a member of the Virtual University for Small States of the Commonwealth (VUSSC). Initiated by and built on the support of Ministers of Education of developing small states of the Commonwealth, VUSSC supports the collaborative development and sharing of open educational resources (OER) to promote learning for sustainable development. Learn more about the VUSSC initiative.

Partners

Partnerships are fundamental to COL’s work. Strategic partnerships allow COL to broaden its reach and engage at global, regional and national levels, while implementation partners support COL’s work in communities and institutions across Commonwealth Member States. Partners include multilateral organisations, regional bodies, national governments, government agencies, foundations, civil society organisations, public and private (not-for-profit) institutions and the private sector.

COL's partners in Guyana include: 

  • Guyana National Commission for UNESCO
  • Ministry of Education
  • University of Guyana