Scholars told submit GPA early to receive payments

Patricia Paul-McDavid, Director of the Scholarship and Advanced Training Division of the Ministry of Education, advised them that if the documents are not received on time it is the scholar who will suffer the consequences. She said that there is a process for the paying of their stipends, this process was approved by Cabinet and it is in the interest of the scholar to make sure the documents are submitted in time.

She was addressing about 400 scholars and their parents at the ministry’s Advanced Level and Postgraduate Scholarship Seminar 2016 at the auditorium of the O’Meara Campus of the University of Trinidad and Tobago (UTT).

She said the option is theirs as to where they chose to study but advised that depending on the type of scholarship they do not have to go abroad. Delivering the feature address, Minister of State in the Ministry of Education, Dr. Lovell Francis, said the scholars were embarking on a social contract with the nation.

He said the country has made a serious error by telling young people that they are getting free education because when people hear the word “free” they do not take it seriously. He said the education they have received and will receive is very expensive. In fact, he said this country spends well over the benchmark nine percent of its Gross Domestic Product (GDP) that the United Nations recommends should be spent on education.

According to Dr. Francis, in the typical budget the country spends close to or more than fifteen percent of its GDP on education.

“So we invest a lot of money on educating our young people because we understand that education is the singular most important factor that leads to human and national development.” He said last year the government would have spent $9.4 billion on education and this year it may end up being something similar if not more.

He told the scholars that their scholarships are individually significant costs “more so given the serious and dire economic circumstances that we face. They are a substantial cost. They are given to you because you worked for them and you deserve them but they are given to you with a particular and important understanding.” He said that understanding was that their education had been paid for by the taxpayers of the country and they owed something to the country at the completion of their studies. He said that “something” was dedicated and high quality service and they should come back home and serve their country when their studies are completed.