On the heels of the announcement to abolish tuition fees for the University of Guyana (UG) and all government technical institutions, Vice President Dr. Bharrat Jagdeo has clarified that the government will not reduce the budgetary allocation for any of the educational institutions.
Recently, President Irfaan Ali announced that tuition fees will be abolished for the not only UG starting January 2025, but the same will be done for institutions like the Carnegie School of Home Economics and the Guyana School of Agriculture.
During his press conference on Thursday held at Freedom House, Georgetown, Jagdeo was asked about the government’s plan to maintain the university’s quality of education. He emphasized that instead of merely maintaining the current standards, the government is focused on upgrading the quality of education at UG.
“So, there will be a commitment, at a minimum, to supply resources beginning January 1, that is no less than what they have now, so it’s not like we are taking over and cutting the budget,” Jagdeo explained. He noted that the same applies for all educational institutions that the tuition fees were abolished for.
The official assured that the level of financial support to UG will not decrease. In fact, he noted that the budget for the institutions will grow over time.
However, Jagdeo called for the UG administration to push for improved education quality. He pointed out the growing competition from online universities classes, which offer high-quality degrees to students without the need to leave their homes. He warned that UG must become more competitive as people now have more educational options than in the past.
“So, if we are not competitive at UG people are going to opt for other opportunities,” Jagdeo added.
To this end, he underscored that the government will provide other opportunities, especially for persons living outside of Region Four. “Our end goal is education for all our people not just supporting UG to funnel everybody into UG, but access to education for all our people and high-quality access, but we will support UG and grow UG…” the vice president stated.
In his remarks, Jagdeo also called for the Ministry of Education (MOE) to play a more significant role in improving the quality of education at UG by bringing in expertise from abroad. This approach, he suggested, would help UG remain competitive and ensure that it delivers a better educational experience to its students.
Earlier this year, the government launched phase one of its initiative to make the UG free, starting with a student loan write-off. A total of $203.7 million in loans have been written off, benefiting 346 students by mid-2024.
