THREE outstanding students have been accepted to the programme for Innovaton in Science and Engineering (SPISE) at the Cave Hill, Barbados Campus of University of the West Indies (UWI).They are Cecil Cox, who topped the Caribbean in Sciences in 2013, Benedict Sukra and Lawrence Faria.
The trio was congratulated by the People’s Progressive Party (PPP) at its weekly Freedom House, Robb Street, Georgetown press conference.
SPISE is a four-week residential summer course for Caribbean high school students who are gifted in science and engineering and interested in studying and exploring careers in those fields.
PPP General Secretary, Mr. Clement Rohee, said the three “exemplary young men” are testimony to the opportunities in education, which were and continue to be created by successive PPP/Civic Administrations.
He said: “The PPP is heartened that the Government has committed to funding the training for Sukra and Faria, while we understand that Cox received full sponsorship from CGX.”
The three have performed exceptionally well at the Carbbean Secondary Education Certificate (CSEC) and Caribbean Advance Proficiency Examination (CAPE) levels and the ruling party remains steadfast in its commitment to ensuring every Guyanese receives an education, Rohee said.
Massive overhaul
He said it was only when the PPP won political office in 1992 that the education system in Guyana underwent a massive overhaul.
“Under the PNC dictatorship prior to the rebirth of democracy in 1992, Guyana had very few trained teachers; school buildings were dilapidated, literacy rate was extremely low, school dropouts in Guyana were among the highest in the Caribbean, if not this hemisphere. Many young people could not find places in secondary schools. The entire system was in shambles,” Minister Rohee charged.
He continued: “Today under the PPP/Civic, we have achieved universal primary education way ahead of the 2015 deadline and are on course to achieve universal secondary education.
“It is under the PPP/Civic that hundreds of new schools were built all across this country, including remote areas of the hinterland. Today, we are training more and more teachers and deploying them in all ten regions.”
Rohee also made reference to the National School Feeding Programme and the School Uniform Programme, as well as the introduction of a $10,000 grant for all students in the public education system as initiatives advanced under successive PPP/C Administrations to buttress education.
“It is under the PPP/Civic that hinterland students, who once saw attaining secondary or tertiary education as just a dream, are writing CSEC, attending the University of Guyana and moreso are among our young people who have been receiving training in Cuba and other parts of the world in engineering, medicine and other fields,” he pointed out.
Minister Rohee stressed that educating Guyanese children has always been a vision of the founding leaders of the party.
Additionally, according to the Ministry of Education, the three students, during the four-week attachment will be completely immersed in university-level calculus, physics, biochemistry, entrepreneurship, Mandarin, one-Caribbean studies and hands-on projects in robotics and electronics and computer programming.
The three young ambassadors are also expected to be exposed and coached by role models from the Diaspora and the Region on career paths and choices and assisted with their university application packages and internship applications to research centres in the Region and abroad.
The goal is to help address the low numbers of Caribbean students pursuing advanced degrees in science and engineering.