Upper-Berbice residents to benefit from online scholarships

    Residents of the riverain communities of Region 10, were on Tuesday, assured that they will benefit from the 20,000 online scholarships, a programme recently rolled out by the Government of Guyana. Giving this assurance, was Minister of Local Government and Regional Development, Nigel Dharamlall who visited the communities of Wiruni, Calcuni, and Hururu and said through the Guyana Online Academy of Learning (GOAL), residents will have equitable access to these scholarships, which will enable them to be better empowered. He urged them to take advantage of this opportunity.

“The government has opened applications for 20,000 online scholarships at the University of Guyana; we would like the young people of Wiruni to be a part of these programs” Dharamlall encouraged in his address to the residents of Wiruni.

    With the absence of secondary schools in the riverine villages, he also told parents, “you don’t know the limit of your children until you give them wings to fly. While we give them root, we must allow them to grow and the least we can do as a parent is to make sure all the opportunities that are available, we must let our children be apart without fear of discrimination” Dharamlall encouraged parents.

While youths are the primary target, there is no age bias. The Minister of Public Works, Hon. Juan Edghill, who was also present, urged untrained teachers in the riverine communities to grab hold of this opportunity since they will be able to teach and attend classes in the comfort of their homes. “Big on the agenda for riverine and hinterland communities are opportunities for education; higher education, through online studies, teachers will be able to do their training right in the village and they don’t have to go anywhere, the entire training program through the Cyril Potter Training College will be online,” Edghill said.

    With limited to no access to internet connectivity and electricity to tap into these online programmes, Minister Edghill assured the residents of Wiruni that the Prime Minister, Hon Brigadier Ret’d, Mark Phillips, who has responsibility for telecommunications, is working assiduously on enhancing internet connectivity in all Amerindian villages across Guyana. He also vowed to make electricity readily available to the residents using commercial solar panels and 150 Watts household solar panels.”The 10 million US dollars line of credit that we got from the government of India, has already been formulated, and are buying commercial-sized solar panels, not the household panels that will power the health center, resource center and everybody will get current” Minister Edghill said.

    Application forms will be available to the Upper-Berbice District on or before Friday, 16th April 2021.According to the Guyana online Academy of Learning(GOAL), the online application portal will be launched this week.