Education Minister Anthony Garcia remains adamant that the decisions taken in the past week to restructure the Government Assistance for Tuition Expenses (Gate) programme were done in the best interest of the public and especially those students seeking to access tertiary education.
Addressing reporters during a media briefing at the Ministry of Education, St Clair, yesterday, Garcia said feedback from local and international quarters reflected “confidence and agreement with respect to the decisions taken by Government.”
Claiming that the National Parent Teacher Association (NPTA) had yet to endorse the findings and recommendations put forward by the Gate Task Force, Garcia said following a meeting yesterday, they were generally satisfied with the decisions.
“This really tells us that what we have done is really the right step we have taken in terms of the Gate and opportunities we have made available to students in their ability to access tertiary education.
“There are some instances and in some cases where the provisions of the Gate must be adjusted because of the economic realities we now face and that principally was the reason for the decisions taken by Cabinet last week,” he added.
Seeking to allay public fear that the 25 per cent contribution by students whose joint household income exceeded $10,000 a month would disenfranchise large numbers of students from next year, Garcia provided a breakdown of the expected cost as it related to the Faculty of Humanities and Education, Faculty of Social Sciences and the Faculty of Engineering.
He said a three-year programme at Humanities and Education would cost Government approximately $36,000 which, when broken down, was $12,000 a year. That, he said, worked out to be $3,000 a year or $250 a month for students who had to pay 25 per cent.
At Social Sciences it would cost $34,512, which translated into $11,504 a year for Government and $2,876 a year or $240 a month for the student, while at Engineering it would cost $39,912 or $13,304 a year for Government), with $3,326 a year or $278 a month for the student.
“In our view, that is not an inordinate sum that students will be asked to contribute to their tertiary education,” Garcia said.
He stressed that claims Government was seeking to disenfranchise students were “hollow and untrue.” He still noted that the decisions were not cast in stone and “depending on our economic circumstances, things can change.”
Asked if Government would reconsider the decision to stop funding people 50 years and over, Garcia said it was not a discriminatory move.
On the move to pull funding for medical students at the St. George's University (SGU), Grenada, and how that would affect University of the West Indies faculties at St Augustine, Mona and Cave Hill, Garcia said he was due to meet with the principal of the St Augustine Campus yesterday to discuss that among other issues.
He said it was costing Government three times as much to send one medical student to SGU.
Executive director of Accreditation Council of T&T (ACTT), Michael Bradshaw, also said there were 12 fully accredited and 61 legally registered institutions in T&T.
List of Accredited institutions as at July 2016
• University of the Southern Caribbean (USC).
• College of Science, Technology and Applied Arts of Trinidad and Tobago (COSTAATT).
• University of the West Indies (UWI).
• University of Trinidad and Tobago (UTT).
• Arthur Lok Jack Graduate School of Business (ALJGSB).
• Cipriani College of Labour and Cooperative Studies (CCLCS).
• St Andrew’s Theological College (SATC).
• Trinidad and Tobago Hospitality and Tourism Institute (TTHTI).
• Caribbean Nazarene College (CNC).
• Tobago Hospitality and Tourism Institute (THTI).
• MIC Institute of Technology (MICIT).
• West Indies School of Theology (WIST).
As at July 2016, there were 12 accredited institutions; 53 registered institutions; nine institutions pending final approval (signing of documents); 230 locally developed programmes approved; 22 individual transnational programmes recognised; 12 foreign awarding bodies/institutions offering individual transnational programmes and 14 local institutions delivering individual transnational programmes.
Up to July 29, 2016, there were 19 foreign awarding bodies and institutions recognised by the ACTT; 496 transnational programmes offered by foreign awarding bodies and institutions recognised by the ACTT and 32 local institutions delivering programmes in collaboration with foreign awarding bodies and institutions.