-as scholarship awardees begin to receive selection letters

AS the government’s 20,000 online scholarship programme progresses, efforts are being made to ensure that the 4,500 awardees for this year are properly guided and assisted in their academic endeavours.

To this end, the Guyana Academy of Online Learning (GOAL), which was established to facilitate the five-year period of the scholarships, will be moving to employ academic counsellors to serve in each of the education districts of Guyana.

“The counsellors are expected to conduct tutorial sessions, formulate and mark assignments, advise and counsel students throughout the period of their studies,” a published notice read. It explained, too, that the academic counsellors are also expected to be committed to the learner-oriented approach and to be advocates of the system.

The employment of such persons, on a part-time basis, is likely to coincide with the August-September 2021 commencement of the respective courses.

The rolling out of the programme, the brainchild of President Dr. Irfaan Ali, marks the fulfilment of campaign promises made by the People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) prior to the hosting of the March 2, 2020 General and Regional Elections.

The initiative paves the way for Guyanese learners to have access to a number of internationally-recognised institutions, such as the University of the West Indies Open Campus, the University of the Southern Caribbean, the University of Applied Sciences in Germany, as well as the Indira Gandhi National Open University, the JAIN University, and the Sherlock Institute of India.

At no cost to them, Guyanese applicants had the opportunity to choose from 104 available programmes. As part of the GOAL platform, 20,000 Online scholarships will be awarded over the next five years; this will see at least 4,500 persons benefitting each year.

Since it was launched in April, this landmark initiative has attracted some 8,800 scholarship applications, which is twice the number of scholarships earmarked for this year. This has been attributed to the robust outreaches which saw various ministers of government going into various communities to launch the initiative and kick start registration.

Director of GOAL, Professor Jacob Opadeyi, had previously explained that approximately 60 per cent of all the applications were submitted online, with the majority of them, understandably, coming from persons residing in Region Four (Demerara-Mahaica), which accounted for approximately 3,400 applicants.

Region Three (Essequibo Islands-West Demerara) followed with the submission of 1,044 applications; Region Two (Pomeroon-Supenaam) with 786; Region Six (East Berbice-Corentyne), 674; Region Five (Mahaica-Berbice), 577; Region 10 (Upper Demerara-Berbice), 429; Region One (Barima-Waini), 300; Region Seven (Cuyuni-Mazaruni), 296; Region Eight (Potaro Siparuni), 109; and Region Nine (Upper Takutu-Upper Essequibo) 110.

Professor Opadeyi reported that of all the submissions received, 80 per cent of the applicants are eligible for the programmes of their choice.

SELECTIONS
The Ministry of Education has already vetted the applications and have handed them over to the Ministry of Public Service, which has established a panel of fully qualified persons who have been given the responsibility of choosing the successful candidates. As it is, the Public Service Ministry has already begun contacting applicants to inform them of their success during this first year of the programme.

“[The team] will determine, by various factors, who is awarded the scholarships,” Public Service Minister, Sonia Parag, informed the Guyana Chronicle. She said in a previous interview that persons will be chosen based on their ability to fulfil the criteria for the programmes being offered.

“Information extracted from the application form and motivational statements will be used to determine this,” the Public Service Minister told this newspaper.

Dr. Opadeyi has explained that “there is a rubric of five conditions that must be used before you get a scholarship. One is a Grade Point Average (GPA). So, persons are ranked based on their GPA; then, we rank you based on your income. Of course, if you have a high GPA; more points. Then we rank them based on the region of origin; where they come from.”

Minister Parag indicated, too, that the government’s aim is to ensure the fair distribution of the scholarships. “It is imperative that there is regional balance in this selection process,” she insisted.

Similar assurances were given by Dr. Opadeyi, who highlighted the government’s efforts at levelling the playing field by providing technical support to the regions in need. The reputable educator also gave an example where several applicants, particularly those from Regions Seven and Eight, did not have email addresses to include in their applications.

Because emails are a critical and formal means of communication between students and the overseas-based universities to which they are becoming enrolled, efforts were put in place to ensure that email addresses were created and given to the prospective scholars.

Nonetheless, Minister Parag had explained that even though there has been a healthy surplus of applications, those who were not successful this year will have to reapply in 2022.