WITH many of the courses scheduled to begin in July, the registration process for Government’s 20,000 online scholarship initiative will wrap up at the end of May.
“We have not yet set a date,” said Public Service Minister, Sonia Parag, as she addressed an outreach exercise at the Region Two Democratic Council at Anna Regina on Saturday. The countrywide outreaches, being led by various Government ministers, seek to encourage Guyanese to capitalise on the opportunity to pursue internationally-recognised tertiary education being offered by reputable universities in Asia, Europe and the Caribbean. These are all fully-financed by the Government of Guyana. Minister Parag told the people of Essequibo and its surrounding riverine areas that the online scholarship programme was conceptualised and crafted over the past five years while the People’s Progressive Party/ Civic (PPP/C) was out of office.
She said that whether the coronavirus pandemic existed or not, the scholarship programme would have remained a significant part of the PPP/C’s work to improve the lives of all Guyanese.
“Universities all over this world were looked at to get quality fields of studies or programmes to engage our young people, and, in this particular initiative, not even just the young people, but anyone above the age of 18 who wants to realise a dream of getting a higher education can do so,” Minister Parag said.
She acknowledged that persons in Region Two were faced with many challenges as it relates to obtaining a higher education. She therefore emphasised the many benefits of the Guyana Online Academy of Learning (GOAL), and the importance of all Guyanese to take full advantage of the courses that stem from certificate qualifications, all the way to master degrees. “I want you to take the opportunity that is being presented to you here today and I will be very proud of Essequibo. I’m already proud because we have a great reaction to this and I would like to see Essequibo come out in numbers,” Parag said.
She explained that over the past few years, Region Two as a whole has only benefitted from a meagre quota of scholarships being awarded by the Government. “Essequibo or Region Two has actually been left behind and I can tell you the statistics being granted in 2019 with very low scholarships being in the sum of like eight out of our many thousands of persons in the region,” Parag specified. The minister also underscored the importance of education, noting that the academic advancement of all Guyanese remains of very high priority for the PPP/C Government. In responding to queries, Parag maintained that a person will only be able to benefit from one scholarship and that every region will have equal opportunities to benefit. Further, she noted that, over the next five years, the GOAL scholarship programme would be fully expanded to cater to a variety of other courses, including areas of technical and vocational studies.
