$2.8B approved for Gov’t scholarships in 2022

-HR needs assessment to begin shortly

Government continues to invest heavily in building the capacity of its human resource with $2.8 billion earmarked for the granting of scholarships. The sum was approved in the Committee of Supply following the consideration of the estimates for the Ministry of Public Service on Monday.

Minister, Sonia Parag, said the ministry will soon begin its human resource needs assessment in the public sector.

She was responding to questions posed by a member of the parliamentary opposition on the HR needs assessment to build the public sector.

“We have always been looking at the priority and relevant needs of the public service and therefore training that has commenced under my purview in the Ministry of Public Service since 2020, has been in keeping with the relevant needs of the public sector and we are even going beyond that to extend training to the private sector,” Minister Parag explained

She also provided a breakdown of how the monies budgeted for scholarships will be spent. Minister Parag said $15 million will go towards training at the Centre of Excellence in Information Technology (CEIT) while $20 million will be for local training.

She noted that under the previous administration CEIT only trained master trainers who went to India. “They have not done any particular training for the public service or elsewhere and that was taken off in 2021.”

For Government of Guyana scholarships, the sum of $1.5 billion was approved. The minister outlined that $298.3 million has been budgeted for continuing scholarships locally, $175.7 million for new scholarships, $407.8 million for continuing international scholarships, $567.5 million for new international scholarships and $5o million for stipends, care packages and meals for scholarship students.

In addition, $1.3 billion has been approved for the Guyana Online Academy of Learning (GOAL) programme which targets 4,500 awardees in 2022.

The budgetary allocation approved for the Ministry of Public Service in 2022 is some $3.312 billion.