GOAL’s certificate programme rolled out in Region Seven

The government continues to maintain its commitment to ensuring equal access to educational opportunities for all Guyanese.

This was highlighted with the rollout of the University of the West Indies (UWI) and Jain certificate programmes under the Guyana Online Academy of Learning (GOAL) in Bartica, Region Seven on Saturday.

The certificate programmes place emphasis on more technical areas of study, and will help to qualify more persons within the region for employment.

These include Banking, Financial Services and Insurance, Digital Marketing and E-Commerce, Joinery & Cabinet Making, Motorcycle Design, Garment Construction, Photography, Tourism and Hospitality Management, Event Planning, Healthcare,  and Agricultural Technology, among a number of others.

In her address to attendees at the St John the Baptist Primary School in Bartica, Public Service Minister, Sonia Parag, reiterated that the rollout of the programmes in the region is in keeping with the government’s commitment, and the president’s vision to narrow the gap of inequality in access to higher education.

“As the country is transforming, from infrastructure to health care, we obviously have to develop our educational system. We also have to develop our people because you can’t have a country that is moving forward and the people are stuck,” she pointed out.

While the certificate programmes have been launched early, Minister Parag also encouraged applicants to keep abreast with news pertaining to the scholarships, so that persons desirous of pursuing more advanced and theoretical areas of study may do so.

She stressed the need for skilled persons from across Guyana to fill the gaps that exist in the labour force.

The minister also noted how important it was to come to Region Seven and other regions, to ensure persons have the same opportunities as those living on the coast.

“The reason why I decided to start with Region Seven in my outreach is because I did see low numbers in 2022 as it relates to the GOAL scholarship programme for Region Seven, and I would like that to change in the upcoming years.”

While Region Seven saw an impressive number of applicants in 2021, 2022 saw a decreased number of applicants, with some 300 forms submitted, and around 276 persons benefitting from the programme.

This year, the application numbers are expected to increase again.

GOAL was launched in 2021, as part of the government’s transformative agenda to have an educated workforce.

Through partnerships with several international Universities, GOAL provides a range of pertinent academic and vocational programmes at the Certificate, Diploma, Bachelors, Postgraduate, Masters, and Doctorate levels.

The primary objective is to deliver 20,000 scholarships by 2025 through a collaboration of agencies including the Ministry of Education, the Ministry of Public Service, and the Ministry of Labour.

Thus far, over 13,000 persons have benefitted.