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Rigobert Pleads To Gov’t For Students

Says Scholarship Recipients In a Bind.

LEADER of the Opposition, Dr. Gale Rigobert
LEADER of the Opposition, Dr. Gale Rigobert

LEADER of the Opposition, Dr. Gale Rigobert has accused the government of unleashing more enemy action against the people of Saint Lucia.

Echoing a refrain from her presentation in the House of Assembly during the 2015 /2016 debate on the Appropriaton Bill, Dr.Rigobert yesterday lamented that the government was failing the youth of this country in their educational pursuits. She said the SLP administration had failed to put a facility in place to support young Saint Lucian academics who have received partial scholarships, facilitated through the British Chambers of Commerce.

The Opposition Leader revealed that the students in question cannot secure loans for their room and board to attend university because of the stringent requirements of lending institutions, and the inability of many of them to provide the necessary collateral as security.

She asked: “What is the purpose of the government, when it serves as a deterrent to, and even frustrates the educational and human resource development of our people, which is a fundamental pillar on which any society is built?”

Dr.Rigobert also revealed that Dr. Anthony’s administration was providing no support to the students other than a letter endorsing the scholarship, which had no value in securing student loans. She continued: “Again, the SLP government is demonstrating categorically that it is anti-education, anti-youth, and anti-development, which can only be taken to be further enemy action against the country’s main resource — its people.”

She accused Minister for Youth Development and Sports Shawn Edward of complicity in the matter “as he has offered no solution to the young people”.

Dr.Rigobert called on the Prime Minister to invest in the education of our youth by implementing policies that would promote the development of our young, bright minds through university education so we can secure a better Saint Lucia for all of our citizens. She said this can happen if the Prime Minister, who is also Minister for Finance, “can create policies to facilitate students who have encountered hurdles in accessing finance to supplement partial scholarships”.

She proposed the creation of a financial facility by the government accompanied by the requisite “bonds” so students are obligated to give back to Saint Lucia and to repay the investment accordingly. “Naturally”, she said, “failure to honour the bond should also meet with the necessary penalties”.

Dr.Rigoibert said the government should not allow these students to languish here when they had already qualified for the partial scholarships. She implored the government to step in and lend assistance to the students who needed it most.

3 Comments

  1. When it comes to education policy, all the major parties have got it wrong. You can say that again.

    Fairty and Compton got it wrong. Kenny and company have got it wrong too. As a matter of fact, both parties with a series of vision-less people at the top, with only leadership titles have produced a vast majority of school-leavers with enough education just to be cheap labour for the hotel industry at best, and at worst, grass-cutting voters in STEP.

    W. Arthur Lewis would smirk at the overwhelming number of foolish people Saint Lucians have consistently voted into government.

    “Without a vision the people perish” says the good book. Now it is easy for us to try to follow into the footsteps of Mainland China and Taiwan with their education system. The rate of GDP growth tells the story. Even the US is trying to catch up with China with STEM.

    Cut and paste this link and see what Barbados is doing in this regard.
    http://www.barbadosadvocate.com/newsitem.asp?more=editorial&NewsID=43567

    However, because we are so far behind in terms of curbing our unemployment rate, in order of priority we should be promoting ESTM.

    We have the technologies to close the gaps. But it remains to seen if we would recognise them and a genuine leader could emerge from the voter fly-paper politicians in both the major parties who execute a vision other than just winning the next election..

  2. Immediate focus should go on educating women to not drop kids as soon as they can. At the minute, it’s just a conveyor belt of misery. Year after year more kids turning adults who have no place. There is simply no room to keep having children without having a plan for them.

    In the 80s, ministers warned about the consequences of just having more kids. Now we see them repeating the cycle. Until the population stabilises at replacement rate it will just cause increased poverty.

  3. DELAY OF GRATIFICATION embedded deeply in the Psyche
    Titanium chastity belts with remote digital locks
    Yes sir, these are the covert / overt options available
    My favorite option is way out of the box
    Conscript a highly trained regiment/battalion a la Delta Force made up of land marine air integrated units. Give them the toughness and universality of the French Foreign Legion.
    Then place their services on Craigs list , Janes Almanac as available for short term service at a weekly fee of $10,000,000 plus $10,000 per day combat bonus to each warrior’s estate.
    This unique force will be available to supplement legit global gov forces in their regional battles.
    The selling card of this force is swift surgical operations in remote areas. Their cutting edge robotics , drones and space com links will make it a formidable force indeed.

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