GOAL graduation set for June 9-10, almost 2,000 being awarded certificates, diplomas and degrees

– further 9,179 persons awarded scholarships in 2025

Senior Minister in the Office of the President with Responsibility for Finance and the Public Service, Dr. Ashni Singh, today announced that almost 2,000 Guyanese are slated to graduate from Government’s Guyana Online Academy of Learning (GOAL) during the programme’s 3^rd graduation ceremony set for June 9 and 10, 2025 at the National Cultural Centre. A further 9,179 Guyanese as well have been awarded scholarships for this year, bringing the total number of persons being granted scholarships since the People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) took office to 39,000 nearly doubling the 20,000 scholarships the government had promised to grant to Guyanese in its 2020 Manifesto.

“The Guyana Online Academy of Learning (GOAL) as it has come to be known popularly, is a flagship initiative of this People’s Progressive Party Civic (PPP/C) Government. It was initiated by President Ali, in the first instance, in our manifesto as we prepared for the 2020 elections, and it aims to provide educational opportunities to those who wish to upgrade their qualifications, including by obtaining post-graduate qualifications as well as to give opportunities to those who might otherwise had not have access to post-secondary education,” Minister Singh emphasized.

“What we are witnessing today as we prepare to graduate 2,000 persons and to award a further 9,000 persons with new scholarships is exciting testimony to two things. One, testimony to the Government’s delivery of a commitment that we made, and as we started, or even before we started the current term of office, the GOAL scholarship program has demonstrated the delivery of yet another one of our commitments. But in addition to that, the award of these new scholarships also represents at an individual and personal level, a triumph for those who would have undertaken and completed an academic program,” Dr. Singh said.

During the announcement today, Dr. Singh while congratulating the 9,179 persons awarded scholarships this year, said the list of awardees will be published in the national newspapers on Sunday and they will be notified via email throughout the course of the new week.

The batch of persons graduating under GOAL this year hail from all regions countrywide who have completed programmes from a number of international universities in various disciplines.

Dr. Singh pointed out that the 9,179 scholarships granted this year range from certificates to PHD and will be offered through 22 internationally accredited partners including University of East London (UK in partnership with UNICAF), Jain ‘deemed to be’ University in India, University of Petroleum and Energy Studies (UPES), Amity University and University of Suffolk (UK in partnership with UNICAF).

This year’s 3^rd graduation ceremony, being held under the theme “Enhancing the Nation’s Human Capacity” is in keeping with the Government of Guyana’s development vision. It also holds special significance as it coincides with the fifth anniversary of GOAL since it was launched by Government to transform access to tertiary education for thousands of Guyanese in every region across the country.

Effective January this year (2025), Government has made access to education at the University of Guyana free of cost. In his 2025 Budget presentation Dr. Singh noted that UG will be tuition free from January 2025 and that it would benefit in excess of 11,000  current students and all new students.

“This will relieve students of having to bear the cost of university education at UG, whether by way of cash or student loan. In 2025, reflecting the abolition of tuition fees, $13.4 billion is allocated to finance UG’s operations,” the Minister had emphasized.

Government also last year launched its student write-off programme in keeping with its 2020 manifesto promise.

“In keeping with our Manifesto commitments regarding making university education more accessible and affordable, we have begun Phase I of the debt write-off process for persons with outstanding University of Guyana (UG) student loans. To date, $2.5 billion in loans were written off for over 3,700 persons, and we continue to urge persons to apply for their loan write off so they can be relieved of this historic obligation, “Dr. Singh had said. Meanwhile, adding further to its provision of easier access to education and relieving citizens of the cost attached, Government went a step further this year when President Ali announced in April last that the government of Guyana will fund the examination fees for the Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate (CSEC) and Caribbean Advanced Proficiency Examinations (CAPE) for at least eight subjects for each student. The Head of State made the announcement during a public meeting in Region Three (Essequibo Islands- West Demerara). The initiative is slated to benefit every single child in public and private schools and will add to the initiative government already implemented since its return to office in 2020 of annual cash grants to every school child.