New software to be developed to...

unable to gain employment in the public service following completion of their programme.

Minister Parag highlighted that this was a feature of scholarship recipients under the previous administration. Referring to the scholarship options made available under the previous administration, she said, “The relevant and priority areas were not selected. It was done on an ad hoc basis. So, you had persons coming out when there were no vacancies available for their skillset, and a lot of those persons were also overtrained. So, the people who are coming out now were not from this particular administration.”

She added that when areas that could not facilitate placement were identified, they were removed from the list of scholarship options. These areas include Agriculture, Forestry and International Relations.

Further, Minister Parag highlighted that government continues to develop the Guyana School of Agriculture, and offer scholarships in specialty areas such as Food Science and Food Technology, as part of efforts to promote advancements in food security and involvement in Agriculture. “We are catering for where the areas are going to advance in Agriculture,” the Public Service minister added.

The government’s 20,000 online scholarship programme is the fulfilment of a pledge made to provide opportunities for educational development nationwide, in recognition of the challenges faced by many Guyanese with regards to tertiary education. GOAL is set to offer 187 programmes that can be accessed from 15 reputable academic institutions across the world, including India, Africa, the United Kingdom and Germany. The programmes, which are being financed by the Government, range from certificate-level to PhDs.

Some $1.8 billion has been allocated in the 2023 budget for the advancement of the GOAL programme.