MP Lucky opens tertiary institution in Curepe

The newly opened Academy of Tertiary Studies (ATS) located at 34 Southern Main Road, Curepe will soon house a day care centre for young mothers pursing their degrees at the Centre. “There will be one room for the children in an academic environment, with desk and chairs while their parents are studying; like the saying we believe that a family that prays, plays and studies together stays together,” said ATS Director of Studies, lecturer and attorney-at-law Gillian Lucky, speaking at the launch, yesterday.

At the start of the school term on September 6, 250 registered students will begin degree programmes which include Law, Information Systems and Management and Geography. Diplomas are being offered in computer literacy, computerised accounting, and human resource and supervisory management. When asked by her detractors “why another tertiary institution?” Lucky recalled the words of her former UWI lecturer, Mr Bobb, saying that professions were overcrowded at the bottom, and there was still room at the top. “At ATS, we are making you the best you can be. There is nothing like saturation at the top. There are many institutions, but education is an important tool...which must always be affordable and readily accessible,” she added.

The institution has as its mission statement, achieving a highly literate nation and boasts of a core of lecturers and personnel who have worked in the education industry for more than ten years. Among the future plans for ATS, Lucky said, were the twinning of schools: establishing links with foreign universities, having an exchange programme and an exchange of culture; guidance counsellors; and a student guild. Lucky shared the view of Education Researcher in the Ministry of Science, Technology and Tertiary Edu-cation, Ronald Brunton, that education was essential in reaching developed country status and making Trinidad and Tobago internationally viable.

Brunton, in his speech, said that his ministry had plans of introducing a Higher Education Loan Plan (HELP) to tertiary level students by providing low interest loans to cover books, accommodation and living expenses at institutions such as the University of TT. Chairman of the Board at ATS, Justice Anthony Lucky cut the ribbons to formally open the institution. In his closing remarks, he said that it was the responsibility of such institutions to provide tertiary education to communities at home and abroad. “In my time, many years ago, seeking further education via tertiary institutions or going abroad was not available. “Now it is here and ATS seeks to prepare scholars for opportunities nationally and internationally.” He said that the greatest natural resource in any country was not oil or gas, but its human resource.