-High Commissioner says

High Commissioner of India to Guyana, Dr. K. J. Srinivasa has assured the public that Guyanese on scholarships India through the High Commission are being well taken care of during the COVID-19 pandemic.

There are two Guyanese who were on the Indian Technical and Economic Cooperation (ITEC) scholarship in India when the virus spread rapidly across the world resulting in the closure of several international airports.

The High Commission facilitated the travel of one Guyanese who wanted to go to his family in the United States (U.S.), as flights were active between Miami and India while the second Guyanese has completed her course and is being provided for in India. She and another student from Antigua are still in India.

“We’re taking good care of them. The institute is taking care of all their needs and we are assuring them that the first flight we get from New York to Guyana we will facilitate,” the High Commissioner told the newspaper on Monday.

He added: “We’re in touch with her [the Guyanese female] every week. We talk to her and we provide for her stay, her food and they are giving them per diems.”

Meanwhile, a few students from the Indian Council for Cultural Relations (ICCR) scholarship programme have already been in India for quite some time. They usually utilise the scholarship’s provision to travel home once yearly but are currently doing classes.

“There are a few people already studying there who went there in previous years. They don’t want to come [home] because their classes are on,” Dr. Srinivasa explained.

With a population of about 1.4 billion people, India has a little over 300,000 cases with over 8,000 deaths. Over the years Guyana has benefitted from the ICCR scholarship which provides fully-paid scholarships to learn music, dance and art in India and the ITEC scholarship which offers a range of degree programmes to post-CXC graduates.