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Complete register of Govt scholarship awardees by year-end
A holistic record concerning the beneficiaries of government of Guyana scholarships will be ready by year end. This is according to Permanent Secretary of the Public Service Ministry, Reginald Brotherson.
The PS gave this assurance during the last meeting of the Public Accounts Committee after he was asked if there is an improved system or register for students who are benefiting from government funded scholarships.
According to Brotherson, getting to an improved system is a work in progress. He said that the students’ register was a tremendous initiative of the Department of Scholarships, when it was recognised that there is information “all over the place.”
Public Service Ministry Permanent Secretary, Reginald Brotherson
He said that efforts are being made to capture in a register all of the information that is expected to be recorded down to the last cent that was spent funding each student. He disclosed that so far the Department has been able to record information as it relates to the accounting aspect of the scholarship programme in the central accounting unit.
He disclosed that this information is currently available in the Central Accounting Unit. Brotherson said that the next step is to put that information into a structured form to have one register that covers every single student, “the time a student joined, when they signed their contract, discipline they are pursuing, at what university, what year they began, whom are their guarantors, all of those things; a comprehensive register.”
Brotherson revealed that if officials from the Auditor General’s Office should visit his Ministry, they will find all information on every student, but not in a structured format. The PS assured the PAC that the comprehensive register will be finished by the end of the year.
It was noted in the Auditor General’s Report for 2015 that five Inter-Departmental Warrants totalling $271M were issued to the Office of the President (now Ministry of the Presidency) for the payment of tuition, airfare, accommodation, stipend and allowances, among other things.
Following checks, it was revealed that $261.759M was spent and the remainder returned to the Consolidated Fund. According to the AG’s report, an examination of the register of students showed that pertinent information such as benefits and allowances payable to the students were not recorded. It was also revealed that all the institutions to which payments of tuition fees are made were not recorded in the register.
As such, the AG had recommended that these important details be included in the register. According to Brotherson, there are currently 186 students abroad and 1,015 local students attending the University of Guyana, Guyana School of Agriculture, Government Technical Institute, Harry Wendt Aeronautical Institute and the Carnegie School of Home Economics.
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