Govt scholarships will prepare Guyanese for the oil sector – VP Jagdeo

Vice President Bharrat Jagdeo believes that the 20,000 online scholarships being offered by the Government will prepare Guyanese for the booming oil and gas sector.
“We have 4500 scholarships on offer this year. We will take resources to pay for Guyanese certification in many areas, so that they can be easily trained; to hold or bring in the people to run classes where they improve Guyanese skills, but in a very practical way, to deal with the industry, ”the Vice President told a social media commentator on Sunday.
The Vice President said during the interview that Guyanese training for the petroleum sector was high on the Government’s agenda. During a recent meeting between the Government and ExxonMobil, the VP said discussions were held on the need for the oil company to set up training facilities in Guyana. This, he said, will represent the Government’s commitment to making Guyanese ready for the sector.
Dr Jagdeo also mentioned an “indigenization scheme,” which will help local people get petroleum-related jobs, which are currently dominated by foreigners.
“We hope that many of the jobs created by the oil companies now – where they have to recruit foreigners – will over time, once Guyanese have the similar skills, that they will replaces those individuals. ”
The online scholarship initiative promises the PPP / C 2020 election manifesto to provide about 20,000 scholarships to Guyanese over the next five years.
Education Minister Priya Manickchand said on Thursday that this year’s batch of 45000 referees will begin studies in July.
Guyanese can apply to pursue studies in over 80 programs offered through the Guyana Online Learning Academy (GOAL), from five internationally acclaimed universities. They are the Open Campus of the University of the West Indies, University of the South Caribbean, University of Applied Sciences, Indira Gandhi National Open University and JAIN University “Deemed To Be”.
Programs are offered from the Certificate to PhD levels.
Application forms are available on the Ministry of Education website at www.education.gov.gy. The GOAL website will be launched this week to facilitate the introduction of digital applications.