…at Guyana Public Service Cooperative Credit Union awards ceremony

FIFTY-one students, who were successful at this year’s National Grade Six Assessment (NGSA), were awarded bursaries on Friday from the Guyana Public Service Cooperative Credit Union (GPSCCU)

The event, which was held at the union’s Hadfield Street office, saw the children of members of the credit union being the recipients of certificates, financial aid, school bags and stationery.

In addition, six students were awarded scholarships that will assist them throughout their secondary school journey.

The recipients of the fulltime scholarships are Nathalia Lovell, Isaiah Thomas, Niall Tyrell, Dhaniram Ramotar, Jasiah Langhorne and Immaculee Walcott.
Through the award, GPSCCU aims to empower members of the union across Guyana, through assistance given to their children.

The union will also be awarding 56 more students who were successful at NGSA. Their parents are also members of the credit union.
Speaking at the event was Mr Shelton Daniels, the Deputy Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Social Protection, who commended the body for recognising a total of 107 children from across Guyana.

Daniels highlighted that the Ministry of Social Protection played a part in recognising “that there needs to be something that can be done to improve the lives of its workers and the lives of those persons who contributed financially to the Cooperative Union.”
He also encouraged the body to continue improving the lives of its members.
Chief Education Officer, Marcel Hutson, who gave the charge at the event, said that everyone was born with the capacity to succeed, and as such, one’s background should not be a hindrance to one’s successes.

“It is not necessarily the school that you would have gotten but it has everything to do with you as an individual and what you want to do with your own life. And if you are serious about what you want to do, regardless of which school you came from, which community you came from, you can grow and you can develop,” he said.

He added, “You have to have capacity and the only way you could have capacity, you have to be educated and be serious about work and how you could become marketable and how you can make an impression not only on your own life, but in the lives of other persons.”
During her remarks, Perlina Gifth, Chief Coop Development Officer, announced that the Department of Coops and the Ministry of Education will be collaborating to resuscitate the School Thrift Societies within schools across Guyana, in September 2019.
“We want you to be conscious of saving from a small age. You must be able to safe a little, give a little and spend a little,” she added.

She indicated that Essequibo was the only region where 99% of the schools have active thrift societies; and noted that she wished for it to be the same case in all other regions across Guyana.

“I’m expecting that you will be willing to be a member of your respective school’s thrift society and, when you are out of school, we are hoping that you can join a credit union to continue to save and enjoy the benefits of what it has to offer,” Gifth pointed out.
In March, the union celebrated its 55th Anniversary. The credit union came into existence as a result of an 80-day strike which lead 29 person to pool their financial resources and start the Union. To date the Union has over 15,000 active members.