Priority for scholarship applicants who cannot afford tertiary education

The Ministries of Education and Public Service will be paying very keen attention to persons who are not financially sound and those persons would be given priority for entrance to the Guyana Online Academy of Learning (GOAL) Scholarships.

This is according to Minister of Public Service Sonia Parag during her interview with BIG Smith News Watch’s FOCUS which is aired on Sundays at 10:00 Am.

Scholarships for a range of universities worldwide are being offered through the GOAL initiative which is responsible for determining all who are eligible for the programmes being offered by the respective universities.

The Ministry of Education is handling the academic aspects of the process while the Ministry of Public Service will be handling the selection process. Minister Parag was asked what assurance can be given by her government that the selection process would not discriminate against any section of the population.

Parag explained that a software system that has been established and spent months developing, will automatically categories persons based on the information provided on their applications which include but are not limited to their age, sex and region of origin among others.

This is an equal opportunity to all Guyanese to be able to attain a tertiary or higher education and this is a once in a lifetime fantastic opportunity that I believe Guyanese should grab”.

“That in itself is a transparent process,” she said.

Applicants will also be asked to submit a motivational statement that includes details on their financial background, the relevance of the programme applied to and how they see themselves serving their country in the future.

However, unlike the other PSM scholarship awardees who are bonded to work with the Government for 3-5 years, persons doing the online scholarships will be required to do volunteer work within communities for a period yet to be determined.

In February, Education Minister Priya Manickchand identified the Indira Gandhi National Open University, the Jain Deemed-to-be-University, the University of the West Indies (UWI) Open Campus and the UWI Open Campus (Vocational), and the International University of Applied Sciences in Germany where 4,500 Guyanese will be afforded online scholarships.

According to a form posted on the Ministry’s website, scholarships are being awarded in 86 areas in Masters, Undergraduate and Bachelor’s Degree programmes. However, it does not specify how many scholarships are available in each area.

Details can be found on the GOAL’s website.