More Tobagonians to access free tertiary education
Monday, January 16th 2006
Although more Tobagonians would now be able to access free tertiary education in reality the competition would be high, Chief Secretary and Secretary of Education Orville London has warned.
He said even though it was now free the number of places would not increase and the fact that one would no longer have to pay, then it was going to be really brain power that is going to determine who would really get in and who doesn't get in.
He said Tobagonians would therefore have to be aware that the competition for the available places would obviously be higher. However, he added, because the THA no longer had to pay the UWI for its students there would be a greater degree of flexibility in utilising the resources available in its Financial Assistance Programme.
London said he wanted to make it very clear that the programme was geared towards anybody who wished to access post secondary education, regardless of where and regardless of how.
"Obviously we tend not to focus on accessing education overseas especially in areas that are available within the region and more so within the country," he added. He said persons who were accessing education in Trinidad and wanted assistance with such things like transport can apply as well as persons accessing education on line He said assistance was also available to persons doing such courses as tailoring within their community.
"The point I want to make is that we must not believe that financial assistance is related to university education. Financial assistance is related to providing opportunities and facilities to individuals who want to access post secondary training," he added.
© Tobago News
Monday, January 16th 2006
Although more Tobagonians would now be able to access free tertiary education in reality the competition would be high, Chief Secretary and Secretary of Education Orville London has warned.
He said even though it was now free the number of places would not increase and the fact that one would no longer have to pay, then it was going to be really brain power that is going to determine who would really get in and who doesn't get in.
He said Tobagonians would therefore have to be aware that the competition for the available places would obviously be higher. However, he added, because the THA no longer had to pay the UWI for its students there would be a greater degree of flexibility in utilising the resources available in its Financial Assistance Programme.
London said he wanted to make it very clear that the programme was geared towards anybody who wished to access post secondary education, regardless of where and regardless of how.
"Obviously we tend not to focus on accessing education overseas especially in areas that are available within the region and more so within the country," he added. He said persons who were accessing education in Trinidad and wanted assistance with such things like transport can apply as well as persons accessing education on line He said assistance was also available to persons doing such courses as tailoring within their community.
"The point I want to make is that we must not believe that financial assistance is related to university education. Financial assistance is related to providing opportunities and facilities to individuals who want to access post secondary training," he added.
© Tobago News
