Prime Minister Dr Ralph Gonsalves has described as incredible, the achievements of his government in the upward thrust of the education revolution.
Gonsalves lauded his government’s efforts as he addressed a ceremony at the SVG Community College for the distribution of laptops to 599 first year students of the Division of Arts, Sciences & General Studies (DASGS) and Division Of Teacher Education (DTE) last week Thursday.
Speaking about stereotyping of young people, Gonsalves there have been attempts to paint the picture that young males and young females have a propensity to engage in criminal activities. He said that was absolutely not true.
“In 2001, you had under 500 students here at the various divisions of the community college, which make up the community college today. But at the prisons, you had 375 prisoners. Today, you have 393 prisoners, but you have 2,650 here. So you do the ratio now,” Gonsalves said.
The Prime Minister also spoke of the whopping increases in opportunities over the years, since taking office in 2001, for students to further their studies.
“And then when you finish community college, what was available for you? When we arrived, there were four scholarships given for university, four.
“You know how many scholarships we give – national scholarships, special awards, national exhibitions, bursaries, special scholarships from Taiwan, Cuba, other countries across the world, and the tuition scholarships? In August, we gave out over 3,000 scholarships for people to go to university,” he said.
Gonsalves further stated: “Then, yesterday, on the basis only of the competitive exam, which took place in May, June, for the CAPE and the associate degree, yesterday at cabinet, just for those exams alone, we approved 82 scholarships, bursaries, national exhibitions, and special awards on the basis of those examinations.
“Eighteen of them are five-year national scholarships. Each of those national scholarships carry a maximum possible of $600,000. Not each course amounts to that, but it’s benchmarked against the highest level at the University of the West Indies, Barbados Medical School, the five-year program.
“Now, you do the math again. You have 19 of them. Each of them is $500,000, $600,000 maximum.”
Gonsalves said that Cave Hill (Barbados) you will find that in addition to Barbadians, the next largest group of students there are Vincentians. At St. Augustine (Trinidad), you’ll find that the next largest group of students there other than Trinidadians, are Vincentians.
“And when you go to Jamaica, well, you will find that there are Jamaicans, and then there are Barbadians, and then there are ourselves, because of particular courses which are available there, which are not available elsewhere, either in Barbados or through our global campus.
“It’s incredible what we have done. Right at the moment, there are 50 students studying medicine in Cuba and full scholarships, 50. I want those numbers to sink in,” Gonsalves said.
