Almost 70% of the 6,000 scholarships handed out recently by government through the Guyana Online Academy for Learning (GOAL) have gone to women, while nearly half of the overall 14,699 applications received could not be processed as the applicants failed to submit compulsory information, the agency disclosed said.
“GOAL team could not have processed 48% of the applications due to applicants’ failure to fill out mandatory information and submit copies of their qualifications as directed on the Application Forms. As a result, only 7,619 of the 14,699 applications were vetted during the verification process – a key phase that determines the candidates’ eligibility to the universities of their choice,” it stated in a press release yesterday.
It did not give gender data on those voided applications.
Awardees of the scholarships for online and distance learning programmes were notified at the start of the week via advertisements in the national newspapers.
GOAL’s release said that of the 7,619 applications – 1,617 did not have the relevant qualifications required for the three options they applied for.
A review by the agency of the guyanaonline.org portal, which facilitated online submissions, disclosed that 5,946 applicants registered but did not submit their forms, while approximately 900 applications received were duplicates.
Among the challenges GOAL faced during the vetting process included the fact that of the 7,619 applications received, an estimated 2,000 did not include the applicants’ Regions of residence, while approximately 1,100 did not include any email address, and another 700 did not provide any telephone contact information.
However, it was noted that the GOAL team was able to assist many applicants with creating email addresses, thus enabling a notable number of incomplete applications to be processed.
Giving a breakdown by gender of the 6000 awardees, GOAL informed that 69% are women and the remainder male. They will be pursing academic studies in 110 disciplines at the five international universities where the courses were offered and this newspaper understands that some of the courses have already began.
The Universities are: Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU), India; JAIN “deemed-to-be” University, India; University of West Indies (Open Cam-pus), Barbados; University of Southern Caribbean (Trinidad); and Inter-national University of Applied Sciences (IU), Germany.
Of the 6,000 scholarships awarded this year, 1,645 students will be enrolled at Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU), 2,909 students will study at JAIN “Deemed-to-be” University, 217 scholarships to students desirous of pursuing programmes at the University of Southern Caribbean (USC); 176 applicants will study at the International University of Applied Sciences (IU), while 173 students were awarded academic scholarships at the University of the West Indies Open Campus. 880 students will study vocational programmes at UWI as well.
The 1,436 applicants, who only have Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate (CSEC) subjects were awarded six-month scholarships at JAIN “deemed-to-be” University. Upon successful completion of this programme, these applicants will be qualified for admission into bachelor’s degree programmes in Business and Commerce.
According to GOAL data, the most sought-after programmes for which scholarships were awarded included Certificate in Food and Nutrition (570),Certificate in Motorcycle Service and Repair (134),Bachelor’s degrees in Special Education (179),Post Graduate Diploma in School Leadership and Management for Head Teachers (152), Master’s degrees in: Psychology (205), Public Policy & Administration (205), Logistics and Chain Supply Management (93), Engineering Management (75), and Health Management (118).
GOAL said that it is “engaging with the awardees to facilitate a seamless registration process with their respective Universities”
“We have Programme Managers assigned to each University that will provide ongoing support to the awardees as they navigate their way through the ODL,” the release quotes GOAL’s Director, Professor Jacob Opadeyi, as saying.
And with the initiative being executed and evaluated by the Ministry of Education, its Minister, Priya Manickchand emphasised that GOAL will help to strengthen investments in this country’s human resource, even as her government remains committed to building capacity. “Education is key to the development of a nation and this awe-inspiring initiative will bolster the Government’s vision to invest in our human resources,” she declared.
GOAL said that the rollout application process for 2022 will be announced shortly.
