…mostly Guyanese youths to benefit

SOME $1.5 billion of the $1.9 billion 2019 budget allocation to the Department of Public Service is expected to go towards training and academic scholarships.
Minister of Public Service, Rupert Roopnaraine, noted that this is imperative as the country prepares to have the necessary skills to handle the impending economic boom with the coming on stream of the oil and gas sector.

“It is not enough to have a grand vision, we must ensure we have the muscular capacity to carry out that vision or it will collapse. That muscular capacity rests in the public service,” Dr. Roopnaraine told the House on the opening day of the budget debates. “It is the primary purpose of my portfolio to ensure that this country is prepared via the enhancement of skills available to the public service to ably meet and manage the transformative future that awaits us. It is towards this goal that the lion share of this year’s allocations to my ministry goes toward training and academic scholarships.”

The allocation represents an almost 50 per cent increase of the $1.08 billion allocated to the area last year. As of July of this year, there were 253 students engaged in continuing studies in two dozen countries across the Caribbean and farther afield Roopnaraine informed. Included in that number, 58 are fully funded overseas scholarships being undertaken in 10 countries, while there are 167 partially funded overseas scholarships in 20 countries. Several are expected to return home soon to serve the country.
“Slightly less than one third, 71, are completing their studies and will return to Guyana to contribute to the public service,” Roopnaraine said.

Another 978 students are continuing studies locally at 14 varying institutions across Guyana. These students on scholarships are pursuing a wide range of academic areas with particular focus on the oil and gas sector, as well as the health and agriculture sectors. Aside from those students on scholarships, Roopnaraine proudly boasted that training at the Bertram Collins College of Public Service (BCCPS) has also been making strides, since first opening its doors in November 2016.

The college graduated its first batch of students in December 2017, while the second batch of students began training in November 2017. The minister noted that the college has provided an avenue for the training of persons from various regions across the country. “It’s not only ensuring that adequate capacity is developed in the public service from an entry level but to also ensure that capacity is equitably distributed around the country, according to regional needs. Cadets are recruited from around the country and on completion are placed in the regions of their origins,” Roopnaraine explained.

The training college, with its headquarters in Ogle, is scheduled for a number of upgrades in the 2019 budget, including enhancement of the building and procurement of additional living facilities for students. Roopnaraine also lauded the work of the Planning and Analysis Unit.

“One of the primary innovations that this administration has brought is significantly enhancing public service management with the introduction of planning and analysis unit. The purpose of the unit is to provide evidence-based oversight of training opportunities offered to Guyanese with special focus on accessibility and ensuring there is value for money in the distribution of scholarships,” Roopnarine noted.