Georgetown, Guyana – At a moment when Guyana’s education system is gasping for investment, vision, and competent leadership, the nation has instead been handed a public display of pettiness, vulgarity, and political immaturity from the highest levels of its education ministry.
Earlier today, Minister of Education Priya Manickchand launched a crude and baseless attack on Coretta McDonald, General Secretary of the Guyana Teachers’ Union (GTU), for doing what every good union leader should: sharing helpful information with teachers. The information in question, access to state-funded healthcare benefits, including eye deva, cervical cancer screening, and spectacles vouchers, was widely circulated among teachers as a reminder of services they may qualify for.
Instead of showing leadership or gratitude, Minister Manickchand dismissed the move as dishonest, saying:
“This is a PPP/C Government of Guyana program aimed at the whole population… This woman had nothing to do with this program. Yet here she is insulting the intelligence of teachers by telling them she worked to get you these benefits. Who does that? Who lies openly like this…ah yes. The PNC/APNU/AFC… #crookery. #shamlessness #untrustworthy.”
Such a tirade is not just unbecoming of a minister, it reflects a level of bullying about which the minister often cautions students. One observer called the minister’s attack vulgar, personal, and politically motivated. Rather than defending policy with grace, Manickchand chose to launch a public smear campaign dripping with contempt and hashtags, further politicizing services that should benefit all Guyanese, regardless of party affiliation.
McDonald fired back with a blistering response, calling out what she described as the Minister’s “malicious and stupid” behavior. “You always behave as though these monies are coming out of your pocket or the other crooks in your party,” McDonald wrote, before reminding the public that many of the initiatives the Minister now parades were pioneered under the PNC/APNU governments:
- The school breakfast program
- Free university education
- Free textbooks and exercise books with accurate content
- Free transportation
- And yes, the very same healthcare vouchers that Manickchand claimed as a PPP achievement
But McDonald did not stop at history. She redirected the spotlight toward the urgent failures of the Education Ministry under Manickchand’s watch. She posed biting questions that reflect the lived experiences of teachers and students across Guyana:
“Why has North Ruimveldt Secondary School, despite receiving a $550 million contract, not been commissioned? Why are the toilets still unusable, the roof leaking, and the arka room flooded?”
“Why did the Ministry allow teachers to graduate from CPCE without completing the program—just to boast inflated numbers?”
“Why has there been silence around the case of 11-year-old Adriana Younge, whose mysterious death cries out for justice?”
“And how does the Ministry explain the disgraceful printing of social studies textbooks filled with errors—only to now spend millions more to reprint them?”
In a parting blow, McDonald invoked a title that has now become synonymous with Manickchand’s tenure:
“You are the goddess of FIRE. Twenty under your belt. And countless schools lost. Never in our history has there been such crassness and hurt.”
This is not mere political banter. This is a reckoning.
When the Minister of Education devotes more energy to Facebook rants than fixing schools, comforting grieving families, or ensuring teacher integrity, something is deeply broken. Guyanese children and teachers deserve better. They deserve policies, not pettiness. Professionalism, not profanity.
The nation is watching. And thanks to the GTU and voices like Coretta McDonald, the record is being corrected, one truth at a time.