Days after Finance Minister Dr. Ashni Singh announced that the government will this year begin to wipe out loans owed by University of Guyana (UG) graduates, Vice President Dr. Bharrat Jagdeo said this move could cost about $18 billion.
The Vice President responded to some criticisms of the 2024 National Budget on Thursday at a press conference held at the Office of the President in Georgetown.
In so doing, he debunked talks that the Guyana Online Academy of Learning (GOAL), the government’s online scholarship programme, is helping to “de-emphasise” the University of Guyana.
Those concerns were raised after the Finance Minister announced that the university would get $4.1 billion as its subvention this year, while GOAL gets $4 billion.
Jagdeo, however, said that is not the case.
He explained that GOAL is helping to train many more people faster because of its online setup when compared to the 3,000 or so students the university is able to train annually. And he posited that training more people is necessary now given Guyana’s labour shortages.
The Vice President also added that the $4.1 billion sum for UG is merely what will be given as this year’s subvention.
“We are also writing off potentially $18 billion in past loans- and that’s all just in this budget.
“For those who took loans in the earlier period and are serving, they don’t have to pay back the loans,” he said.
The governing People’s Progressive Party Civic (PPP/C), in its 2020 election campaign, said it would make university education free by 2025.
In December, President Dr Irfaan Ali said the government will deliver on its promise to make university education free and will undertake a step-by-step approach from 2024. During a year-end interview with the News Room, President Ali said the government would deal with students paying loans first.
The Finance Minister on Monday said the government will this year commence the first phase of eliminating outstanding loans owed by graduates of the University of Guyana, on the condition that these graduates can demonstrate proof of being employed or self-employed in Guyana after their graduation, for a minimum period to be specified.
He did not specify then how much money was set aside to deal with this debt write-off.
