The Ministry of Education is to cut scholarships by 15% in 2016. Education Minister, Anthony Garcia says there’s need for more discussion. "The (scholarship) cap will reside in the area of about 400 but again we would need to discuss with all stakeholders," Garcia said. The number of scholarships issued over the last five years was 1600 —over 470 in 2015. It means 70 scholarships will go.
The ministry is also to cut spending by more than $118 million, that represents 1 percent of a budget that the Guardian was told $9.8 Billion.
Garcia was speaking during a media conference yesterday at the St Clair offices of the Ministry of Education, called mainly to clarify the issue of textbooks in the school.
Garcia explained that the replenishing of textbooks, its three-year cycle which came to an end has been extended to one year.
"If we had gone the way of full replenishment that would have amounted to $138 million. The decision that we have taking now, which is only to replenish the books that have been destroyed, lost and stolen will allow only an expenditure of not more than $20 million. So, this is a step in the right direction," Garcia said.
"I want reassure that there is no shortage of textbooks, they are still in the system and available to all. The only difference this year is that some of the, might be as old as three years but we do not see this as a major problem," he added.
President of the T&T Unified Teacher's Association (TTUTA), Devanand Sinanan and President of the National Parent Teachers Association, Zeena Ramatali were also present at the media conference.
Bother said they hadn’t been properly consulted initially, but were now satisfied with the proper explanation given by the minister surrounding the textbooks issue.
However, Ramatali raised concerns about the storage and the quality of the textbooks in the system.
Both Sinanan and Ramatali welcomed Garcia's move to reinstate the Learning Material Evaluation Committee.
"The life of that came to an end in 2009 and since then we have had no committee performing that function and we were very concerned of the committee not being in existence or no alternative arrangement was put in place. We were satisfied with the minister listening carefully to our suggestion. We also indicated that the committee must include representatives of TTUTA and the NPTA as well as other stakeholders," Sinanan said.
Prime Minister Keith Rowley told the country on Tuesday that all ministries and state entities would need to find 7 percent in budget savings. He said those would come mainly from inefficiencies, and that jobs would not be threatened.