GEORGETOWN, Guyana – Guyana's government on Monday said it has nearly doubled its initial goal of awarding 20,000 online scholarships through the Guyana Online Academy of Learning (GOAL), with over 39,000 scholarships being awarded to date.
Senior Minister in the Office of the President with responsibility for Finance and the Public Service, Dr Ashni Singh, addressing the graduating ceremony for the Guyana Online Academy of Learning (GOAL) on MondaySenior Minister in the Office of the President with responsibility for Finance and the Public Service, Dr Ashni Singh, told the third GOAL graduation ceremony held at the National Cultural Centre, that the scholarships are part of the government’s pledge to expand access to higher education.
He said since GOAL was launch in 2021, the government invested GUY$12.6 billion in the program, averaging an estimated GUY$312,000 per student.
He said this year alone, over 2,000 students are expected to graduate with qualifications ranging from Master’s and Bachelor’s degrees to post-graduate and certificates.
Singh, addressing the more than 500 graduates who earned Master’s degrees in various subjects, urged them to seize the moment in what he described as a historic phase of growth for the country.
“You are literally living in the era of opportunity in Guyana,” Singh said, alluding to the Guyana’s economic transformation and emerging sectors that require skilled professionals.
The GOAL initiative forms part of the government’s wider effort to build a knowledge-based economy. It allows Guyanese to access tertiary education online, removing traditional barriers such as geography and cost, and enabling students to study from their homes.
In his address to the ceremony, President Irfaan Ali praised all the “partnering institutions for their belief in this program” adding “it has meant the world to us.
”You took a chance on us and we are grateful,” he said, saying also that the management of the program here had shown that ‘with will, innovation and compassion we could build a bridge between aspiration and achievement”.
He told the graduates that they have “come a long way” and that “while they had every reason to give, they did not. You stayed the course and now here you are with your certificate in hand and your eyes fixed on the future.
“And what a future it is. Guyana is not the same country it was a decade ago. Our economy is expanding, new industries are emerging. Oil and gas yes, but also construction, technology, health care, education, hospitality. Logistics, tourism, industries, manufacturing, agro-processing and the list goes on and on.”
But he warned that “all that growth and all that opportunity means nothing if we do not have the people ready to seize it. That is why GOAL matters. That is why you matter because when we talk about development, we are just not talking about roads and bridges, we are talking about engineers, who could design them….”
The universities involved in the GOAL program came from India, German, the United Kingdom, Spain Malawi, Zambia, Trinidad and Tobago and the host country.
