{"id":184584,"date":"2026-09-01T15:45:34","date_gmt":"2026-09-01T18:45:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/keynews.sr\/?p=184584"},"modified":"2026-09-01T15:45:34","modified_gmt":"2026-09-01T18:45:34","slug":"submitted-grassroots-innovation-how-robotics-and-ai-are-preparing-guyanese-children-for-tomorrow-part-3","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/keynews.sr\/en\/submitted-grassroots-innovation-how-robotics-and-ai-are-preparing-guyanese-children-for-tomorrow-part-3\/","title":{"rendered":"Submitted: Grassroots innovation: How robotics and AI are preparing Guyanese children for tomorrow (Part 3)"},"content":{"rendered":"

While the government is investing heavily in infrastructure and vocational education, a quiet technological revolution is growing in some neighbourhoods and villages in Guyana. Thanks to creative public-private partnerships, primary school children \u2013 even in rural regions \u2013 are learning to code, build and work with artificial intelligence. What role do robotics, \u201cLearning Pods\u201d and AI play in the education system of our western neighbour?<\/strong><\/p>\n

The drive for development in Guyana is not limited to government buildings and offices. One of the most striking examples of educational innovation from the bottom up<\/em> is STEMGuyana<\/em>. This initiative is a collaboration between local organisations, international companies, the Guyanese diaspora and the international community, and is making a direct impact on the workplace of the future.<\/p>\n

\u201cLearning Pods\u201d for vulnerable children<\/h2>\n

STEMGuyana began with an ambitious project to bring children together for robotics lessons. With financial support from oil company Tullow Oil, the Ministry of Youth and fundraising efforts among the Guyanese diaspora (via GoFundMe), a ten-month programme was rolled out.<\/p>\n

The objective went far beyond technology alone: children learned to think critically, collaborate and gained a considerable dose of self-confidence. In addition, the project offered free academic support and after-school care to primary school pupils. To also reach children in remote and vulnerable areas, 21 so-called \u201cLearning Pods\u201d<\/em> were established, spread across nine different regions of the country. STEMGuyana\u2019s Learning Pods Programme<\/em> is an after-school initiative launched to address learning gaps among children. It provides educational support in physics, mathematics, English, technology, robotics and programming.<\/p>\n

From \u201cRobin the Robot\u201d to IDB-Lab<\/h2>\n

The successes of this private initiative did not go unnoticed. With support from IDB<\/em>–<\/strong>Lab<\/em>, the concept was scaled up. Top students were tasked with converting the Ministry of Education\u2019s entire primary school curriculum into digital teaching material, including interactive videos and practice questions.<\/p>\n

To make learning attractive, children gathered in community centres and clubs. The media were also used: through the educational television programme \u201cRobin the Robot\u201d<\/em>, thousands of children were reached at home and encouraged to take an interest in science and technology.<\/p>\n

AI in the classroom: Pathway Online Academy<\/h2>\n

This educational method has since been further developed into a fully fledged digital platform: the Pathway Online Academy<\/em>. On this secure platform \u2013 where access to external websites is strictly blocked for the child\u2019s safety \u2013 pupils can take online lessons.<\/p>\n

The platform makes smart use of artificial intelligence (AI) to adapt education to the learning pace of the individual pupil. However, the introduction of AI also brings challenges and discussion:<\/p>\n

    \n
  • Human factor:<\/em> Not all parents are immediately convinced by digital assistants; some still strongly prefer a physical, human teacher in the classroom.<\/li>\n
  • Costs:<\/em> Although the initiative began as a free community facility, parents currently pay monthly tuition fees of around $25 USD for the expanded Pathway Academy platform.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

    Within this private initiative, children are given the opportunity to keep pace with innovations in education without having to wait for the government. The targeted collaboration between various national and international actors makes this possible.<\/p>\n

    Barrier-free study through GOAL<\/h2>\n

    Oil revenues are filtering through to society in various ways. One of the most concrete applications is the Guyana Online Academy of Learning (GOAL)<\/strong> programme of the Ministry of Education.<\/p>\n

    Through this government-funded initiative, citizens across the country \u2013 from the coast to the deep interior \u2013 are given the opportunity to pursue higher education free of charge. The offering ranges from short certificates and diplomas to full bachelor\u2019s, master\u2019s and even doctoral degrees (PhDs) at international universities. In this way, oil money is directly converted into knowledge and sustainable opportunities for the country\u2019s own population.<\/p>\n

    Questions<\/h2>\n
      \n
    • How can Suriname create a similar \u201cbottom-up\u201d ecosystem, in which the diaspora, international companies and local organisations jointly transform schools and community centres into small innovation hubs, without waiting for large-scale government programmes?<\/li>\n
    • How does Suriname intend to prevent high-quality AI-supported education (such as Pathway Online Academy) from becoming a privilege for paying parents, while the \u201cLearning Pods\u201d were specifically intended for vulnerable children \u2013 and what role does the government see for free or subsidised digital learning platforms?<\/li>\n
    • How could Suriname use part of its natural resources (gold, oil, timber) for a similar \u201cbarrier-free\u201d learning pathway \u2013 not only at higher vocational education\/university level, but also for the early integration of AI and robotics skills in primary and secondary education, in order to bridge the gap with the region?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

      In the next article, we will take a closer look at financial control, environmental oversight and the mechanisms for distributing oil money fairly across Guyanese society.<\/em><\/p>\n

      Professor Dr. Franklin S. Jabini<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

      In Guyana, primary schoolchildren in rural areas are learning to code and work with AI through innovative learning pods and digital platforms, made possible by public-private partnerships and diaspora initiatives.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":31,"featured_media":182476,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":{"facebook_29234516172805655_1309923202201307":"","facebook_29234516172805655_1158244960706604":"","facebook_29234516172805655_1093738170500407":"","facebook_29234516172805655_108923581283702":""},"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_override_counter":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[18427],"tags":[20519,20520,16291,20032,20521,20518,16292],"class_list":["post-184584","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-submitted-articles","tag-ai","tag-franklin-jabini","tag-key-news","tag-nieuws","tag-robotics","tag-submitted","tag-suriname"],"pp_statuses_selecting_workflow":false,"pp_workflow_action":"current","pp_status_selection":"publish","pp_force_visibility":null,"pp_subpost_visibility":null,"pp_inherited_force_visibility":null,"pp_inherited_subpost_visibility":null,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/keynews.sr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/184584","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/keynews.sr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/keynews.sr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/keynews.sr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/31"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/keynews.sr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=184584"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/keynews.sr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/184584\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":184616,"href":"https:\/\/keynews.sr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/184584\/revisions\/184616"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/keynews.sr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/182476"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/keynews.sr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=184584"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/keynews.sr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=184584"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/keynews.sr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=184584"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}