Since the reduction of GATE (Government Assistance for Tuition Expenses programme) those who provide and look to receive a tertiary education in Trinidad have been adversely affected. Student enrollment is reduced and so are revenues. COSTAATT (College of Science, Technology and Applied Arts of Trinidad and Tobago) has seen a 10-12 per cent decline in enrollment since changes made to GATE.
The president of COSTAAT Gillian Paul responded in an article in the Trinidad and Tobago Guardian on Monday to fears by students that the University would be closed down. She assured the students and public that while cash flows have decreased across the 6 campuses the school would remain open.
Meanwhile, University of Trinidad and Tobago (UTT) has identified over 200 employees to be sent home. “This identification was presented to us by the university and we really have to go through it to decide whether this recommendation can be sustained or whether there is need for further investigation,” Anthony Garcia Education Minister stated on a national television programme on Monday. This statement is against a backdrop of discontinued course programmes, laying off of employees and late payment of salaries to staff amongst financial difficulties at UTT.
Hello and good morning my people. Well I hope the Trinidad & Tobago Government don’t allow their young citizens who’s trying to better themselves to migrate to America which is a brain drain on the rest of the world. We must provide incentives to our people so they can get a better education which will benefit the whole Caribbean.
You must not generalize. You should say “some” people. There are some well-to-do people in T & T. For your information I have relatives residing there and some other people whom I know. They, their children and other relatives never depended on the government and never will. They worked their way up. Some studied and obtained degrees. They are all employed. They pay their fair share of taxes.
Today, all governments are experiencing economical problems. It may be too that they over-spent. I am not referring to D/ca which has its share of burdens especially since TS Erica and Hurricane Maria.
When most governments have problems the first ones to be affected are the vulnerable and as we can see some students and the poor who depend on the government. T & T appears to be no exception.. I hope in time T & T will recover.
When the price of oil was high, the various governments thought the best they could do was give away everything to everybody. So people developed a dependency on government. With the crash they had no choice but to claw back those benefits.