Moruga/Tableland MP Dr Lovell Francis, who was appointed Minister of State in the Ministry of Education yesterday, says the People’s National Movement (PNM) has no intention of discarding effective policies pioneered by the People’s Partnership government simply because of political differences.
Francis who has been given responsibility for tertiary education, promised to review all policies and make a decision on whether or not they should be continued.
His comments came shortly after Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley advised President Anthony Carmona to appoint Francis as Minister of State in the Ministry of Education with immediate effect in accordance with Section 76 (3) of the Constitution. He is supposed to work closely with Minister of Education Anthony Garcia.
Garcia and other members of Government were appointed and given their ministerial portfolios on September 11, while Rowley, Attorney General Faris Al-Rawi and National Security Minister retired Major General Edmund Dillon were sworn into office two days earlier.
Asked to list his priorities, Francis said he was concerned over reports that scholarship students, studying overseas, had not yet received their grants. Saying this will be addressed as a matter of priority, Francis also promised to review the Government Assistance for Tertiary Education (GATE) programme.
He also said tertiary education must serve a higher purpose.
“It must make students socially conscious of their moral obligation to build our country. We cannot continue to produce students who are unaware of their social responsibility to develop our society. If your education is paid for by the public purse then you have a social responsibility to uphold,” Francis said.
Francis worked as a full time history lecturer at the University of the West Indies before he vying for political office. Since he won the seat, he has been walking the Moruga/Tableland constituency, thanking supporters.
One of his first acts was to give up his constituency office to house dislocated pupils from Moruga RC School. The school is now fully operational and Francis has made arrangements to use the Moruga sub-office to do constituency business.