Facilities and other miscellaneous fees associated with tuition costs for students of the University of Guyana will also be abolished come January 2025.
This announcement was made by Minister of Education, Priya Manickchand, MP, during the 89th Sitting of the National Assembly in which considerations were being made for supplementary funding for the University of Guyana.
“I am very happy to say to you that this free university education relates to both tuition as well as miscellaneous costs that ordinarily would have passed on to the student learner at the university,” the minister explained.
Further, Minister Manickchand said that the supplementary request was necessary to ensure the continued operation of the university.
“This is the amount that will meet the costs of the university from now until the end of December,” she said.
Last month, the President announced the abolition of tuition fees, for students of the university effective from January of 2025.
It is the fulfillment of the commitment made by the People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) in its manifesto to “provide free education” at UG.
Since 2020, the government has made intentional steps to provide more opportunities for high level education opportunities for Guyanese.
The government has also begun the writing off of loans for students of the University of Guyana.
In November of 2023, Minister Manickchand turned the sod for a new College of Medical Sciences building at the university’s Turkeyen campus.
The modern facility will be equipped with a lecture theatre which will accommodate 200 students and several laboratories such a skills laboratory, an anatomy laboratory, biochemistry laboratory, histopathology laboratory, hematology laboratory and research laboratory.
More than 30,000 scholarships have benefitted from free, quality education through the Guyana Online Academy of Learning (GOAL) programme.
In 2023 alone, more than 4000 people have been trained in technical and vocational programmes, with an additional 8000 persons to benefit from learning these very coveted skills. This transfer of knowledge is being facilitated by the Board of Industrial Training.
Approximately 6000 women have also been trained in areas of décor and event management, food tourism, social media marketing, and project management over the last three years. (Department of Public Information)
