RESIDENTS in several East Berbice-Corentyne (Region Six) communities, on Friday, welcomed Minister of Public Service, Sonia Parag, who travelled to the area to officially roll-out the 20,000 online scholarship initiative.

Minister Parag and a team, which included several regional officials, travelled to New Amsterdam, Williamsburg/Rose Hall and Number 63 Village to encourage residents to capitalise on the opportunity to advance their education.

The public would be able to access the scholarships over the next five years. During her engagements with residents, the minister said the initiative is the brainchild of President Dr. Mohamed Irfaan Ali and Vice President, Dr. Bharrat Jagdeo who are both aware of the challenges people in different parts of the country had accessing tertiary education.
She said the People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) has always prioritised education and has made strides since gaining office in 1992.

“That could have been determined from the incentives that went up in attendance, and passes in secondary schools as prior to 1992, we did not have that.”
The activity marked the beginning of the fulfilment of a manifesto promise made by the PPP/C Administration, just nine months after taking office.

“We recognise that we need a brighter future. We recognise that we need to give education equally to our Guyanese, not just a category of Guyanese who are able to get it, but those of you who cannot even connect to the internet. We are going to provide that service to you so that you are able to conveniently attain or achieve that higher education,” Minister Parag said.
Residents had turned out in their numbers at the named locations to find out how they could benefit. Ms. Cherish Nassy, a former student of the J.C. Chandisingh Secondary School said she is glad for the opportunity.

“I feel overjoyed because not every day you would have an opportunity like this,” she said.
Yogeeta Seemangal, a former student of Tutorial Academy Secondary School who obtained nine CXC subjects expressed similar sentiments. Ms. Seemangal, who also studies tourism at the CAPE level said, “When I saw the course outlines and I saw tourism being offered I was very much excited and having this opportunity is like a dream come through as well, because I had also written a letter about CPCE last year and UG concerning the rural areas, the urban areas and how we are not offered equality in terms of our courses.

“So, if we are living far, we usually have to leave our comfort zone to go to these universities at Turkeyn and CPCE to study.”
She is both surprised and happy about the opportunities now being made available for persons to study.
“I really appreciate what this government is doing for us as well and it’s not only me, if I hadn’t the opportunity for all of this, I’m very happy for the young generations because we need to have sustainability in every aspect,” she added.

Wilton Felix is another scholarship hopeful who applied during the outreach. A former student of President’s College, he hopes to pursue studies in Information Technology.
“I think it’s very interesting and amazing to be offered such an opportunity and knowing that its online and free, so easily accessible since currently COVID-19 has reduced the face-to-face interaction in teaching,” he said. Another prospective scholar, Mr. Romario Narain also praised the Government for providing this opportunity for the youth to elevate themselves.
“In the past it was very hard for us to get an opportunity in certain fields that you wanted to study, but this here is actually gonna be a great help not only to the people on the coast but even into the hinterland also,” he said. Mr. Narain said he hopes to obtain a scholarship to study accounting.

Sisters Felicia and Lydia Indardat are both hoping to study tourism.
“I feel honoured and privileged enough because I came from a home that is not that fortunate to have these opportunities like these every day. And once you have an opportunity, a golden opportunity, I should say, like this, I should grab it and I’m very grateful and thankful to the Government for considering youths in this generation to apply for this who cannot afford to do things like this,” Felicia said.

Meanwhile, Minister Parag said the courses are being offered to persons who have completed secondary school. There is no age limit and provisions have been made for early school leavers. Individuals who do not meet the scholarship requirements, can complete six months of a Bachelor Preparatory Programme, and on successful completion, they would be eligible to pursue scholarships for Bachelor degrees.

The scholarships are available for persons interested in pursuing Certificates, and Diplomas, Bachelor Degrees, Post Graduate Degrees, MBAs and PhD programmes. The scholarships are being done in collaboration with the Ministry of Education, which would determine the qualification for the scholarships while the Public Service Ministry is responsible for selecting successful applicants.

Deputy Director of the Guyana Online Academy of Learning (GOAL) with responsibility for student affairs, Mr. Ronald Singh, said the institution does not itself offer courses, but serves as an intermediary between the universities and the Guyana Government.

“What we do, we broker, we research and initiate discussions with universities, top ranking universities… We act as the go-between you, the student, and the institution. We broker deals. We negotiate reduced prices,” he said.

Mr. Singh said the five institutions which are the University of the West Indies (Barbados), the Indira Gandhi National Open University (India), the University of Applied Sciences (Germany), Jain University (India) and the University of the Southern Caribbean are all rated higher than the University of Guyana. Mr. Singh also said GOAL intends to provide support to students once they have been given a scholarship, monitoring their performance and providing advice for student and academic affairs. (DPI)