GATE - Government Assistance for Tuition Expenses

[zoom rader]

by all means, means test. but dont cut the budget, expand it. take the funds from carnival and religious funds.
and get rid of nonsense as carnival studies and soca studies.

There should be absolutely no funding for Carnival or any Religious body.

Agreed 100%. No funds for carnival or religious bodies. Oy carnival spending should be for "marketing" the festival as part of our tourism product. Alluh know how much taxpayers money is spent purchasing fete tickets for companies etc. Madness

Yah can't expand gate like that. You have to cut it because you want it to become self sufficient. So in the case of loan. Loan payments go towards funding the next batch of students and so on.

Yup the funding of tents to cause racial discord and promote the red Goverment is way wrong.

Gullible minds are made in the red Goverment tents

All these crap must stop

[sMASH]

Tuesday, November 17, 2020
THE CONTINUING UNWILLINGNESS TO FIX THE EDUCATION SYSTEM


It isn't always easy to avoid criticizing the Rowley regime, but sometimes it becomes absolutely necessary when it becomes apparent that rather than dealing with what is or ought to be important for the well being of the society, that the Government is operating more like a business rather than a government. Put another way, I have often said that you cannot run a country the way you run a business. Running a business entails not only balancing the books but making a profit. Running a country means that decisions have to be taken which are not only in the best short term interests of the society, but also in the best long term interests as well.

What has aroused my concerns is the announcement at the end of last week by the erstwhile Minister of Education in which massive cuts were declared in the GATE program ... the program which provides subsidized tertiary education for a wide swath of students. That the cuts are going to hurt many students is a given. What is also a given is that there will be a sizable number of very poor students who will be unable to access tertiary education.

So? Let them eat cake? The problem here is that of all the programs or facilities for people that ought to be cut, I would argue that education is just about the last one that ought to be tampered with. No country can lift itself out of poverty without a good, viable and efficient education system. That the PNM and Dr. Eric Williams did just that in the period 1956 to about 1970 is true and we owe a tremendous amount to Dr. Williams for this is true.

But here we are many, many years later and education seems to have taken a back seat in the Rowley regime's push to modernize the country. There are some people even who detect a certain racism in the regime's effective downgrading and cancelling many of the GATE programs. These people argue that they think this because they see East Indians as being the major beneficiaries of GATE and that this is a way of slowing down the rise of the East Indians against the Africans in the society. I don't know if that perception can be backed up with facts, but the mere fact that the perception exists is as unfortunate as it is disturbing and means that the regime is seen by many to be racist. Beauty, after all, is in the eye of the beholder and not the beholden.

Look, in my opinion it is better to stay away from thoughts like this. It is my respectful view that regardless of whatever is motivating the regime to slash spending on education it needs to do a complete 180 degree turn and pour ALL the resources into the system that we have at our disposal ... even if this means that badly needed projects elsewhere (e.g., Dr. Rowley's plans for East Port of Spain) have to be put on hold or cancelled. There is NOTHING more important than education. I would even argue that our health care system (which is most important) comes in a close second behind education.

We don't, for example, pay our teachers enough. The starting salary for a teacher is around TT$6,000 per month. That is ridiculous! It should be three times that amount! And it should go up by at least three times for every level after that. If you pay peanuts, do you expect to get world class scholars?

This country will never fix itself until we start at the beginning. It will take about twenty years to fix the problem. But most governments think only in terms of five year cycles. Time for a new Constitution? But that is another argument again!

But since then our national attention turned elsewhere and we did not pay the kind of attention to the education system that we ought to have paid. For example, in my opinion the salaries that we pay teachers is nothing short of a scandal and a complete disgrace. I understand that the starting salary for a brand new teacher is somewhere in the vicinity of $5,000 per month. This is awful. It should be AT LEAST three times that amount. Then again, it is not

[zoom rader]

Tuesday, November 17, 2020
THE CONTINUING UNWILLINGNESS TO FIX THE EDUCATION SYSTEM


It isn't always easy to avoid criticizing the Rowley regime, but sometimes it becomes absolutely necessary when it becomes apparent that rather than dealing with what is or ought to be important for the well being of the society, that the Government is operating more like a business rather than a government. Put another way, I have often said that you cannot run a country the way you run a business. Running a business entails not only balancing the books but making a profit. Running a country means that decisions have to be taken which are not only in the best short term interests of the society, but also in the best long term interests as well.

What has aroused my concerns is the announcement at the end of last week by the erstwhile Minister of Education in which massive cuts were declared in the GATE program ... the program which provides subsidized tertiary education for a wide swath of students. That the cuts are going to hurt many students is a given. What is also a given is that there will be a sizable number of very poor students who will be unable to access tertiary education.

So? Let them eat cake? The problem here is that of all the programs or facilities for people that ought to be cut, I would argue that education is just about the last one that ought to be tampered with. No country can lift itself out of poverty without a good, viable and efficient education system. That the PNM and Dr. Eric Williams did just that in the period 1956 to about 1970 is true and we owe a tremendous amount to Dr. Williams for this is true.

But here we are many, many years later and education seems to have taken a back seat in the Rowley regime's push to modernize the country. There are some people even who detect a certain racism in the regime's effective downgrading and cancelling many of the GATE programs. These people argue that they think this because they see East Indians as being the major beneficiaries of GATE and that this is a way of slowing down the rise of the East Indians against the Africans in the society. I don't know if that perception can be backed up with facts, but the mere fact that the perception exists is as unfortunate as it is disturbing and means that the regime is seen by many to be racist. Beauty, after all, is in the eye of the beholder and not the beholden.

Look, in my opinion it is better to stay away from thoughts like this. It is my respectful view that regardless of whatever is motivating the regime to slash spending on education it needs to do a complete 180 degree turn and pour ALL the resources into the system that we have at our disposal ... even if this means that badly needed projects elsewhere (e.g., Dr. Rowley's plans for East Port of Spain) have to be put on hold or cancelled. There is NOTHING more important than education. I would even argue that our health care system (which is most important) comes in a close second behind education.

We don't, for example, pay our teachers enough. The starting salary for a teacher is around TT$6,000 per month. That is ridiculous! It should be three times that amount! And it should go up by at least three times for every level after that. If you pay peanuts, do you expect to get world class scholars?

This country will never fix itself until we start at the beginning. It will take about twenty years to fix the problem. But most governments think only in terms of five year cycles. Time for a new Constitution? But that is another argument again!

But since then our national attention turned elsewhere and we did not pay the kind of attention to the education system that we ought to have paid. For example, in my opinion the salaries that we pay teachers is nothing short of a scandal and a complete disgrace. I understand that the starting salary for a brand new teacher is somewhere in the vicinity of $5,000 per month. This is awful. It should be AT LEAST three times that amount. Then again, it is not

All that said is injun took the gate education while red Goverment supporters played play wey

[RedVEVO]

Tuesday, November 17, 2020
THE CONTINUING UNWILLINGNESS TO FIX THE EDUCATION SYSTEM


It isn't always easy to avoid criticizing the Rowley regime, but sometimes it becomes absolutely necessary when it becomes apparent that rather than dealing with what is or ought to be important for the well being of the society, that the Government is operating more like a business rather than a government. Put another way, I have often said that you cannot run a country the way you run a business. Running a business entails not only balancing the books but making a profit. Running a country means that decisions have to be taken which are not only in the best short term interests of the society, but also in the best long term interests as well.

What has aroused my concerns is the announcement at the end of last week by the erstwhile Minister of Education in which massive cuts were declared in the GATE program ... the program which provides subsidized tertiary education for a wide swath of students. That the cuts are going to hurt many students is a given. What is also a given is that there will be a sizable number of very poor students who will be unable to access tertiary education.

So? Let them eat cake? The problem here is that of all the programs or facilities for people that ought to be cut, I would argue that education is just about the last one that ought to be tampered with. No country can lift itself out of poverty without a good, viable and efficient education system. That the PNM and Dr. Eric Williams did just that in the period 1956 to about 1970 is true and we owe a tremendous amount to Dr. Williams for this is true.

But here we are many, many years later and education seems to have taken a back seat in the Rowley regime's push to modernize the country. There are some people even who detect a certain racism in the regime's effective downgrading and cancelling many of the GATE programs. These people argue that they think this because they see East Indians as being the major beneficiaries of GATE and that this is a way of slowing down the rise of the East Indians against the Africans in the society. I don't know if that perception can be backed up with facts, but the mere fact that the perception exists is as unfortunate as it is disturbing and means that the regime is seen by many to be racist. Beauty, after all, is in the eye of the beholder and not the beholden.

Look, in my opinion it is better to stay away from thoughts like this. It is my respectful view that regardless of whatever is motivating the regime to slash spending on education it needs to do a complete 180 degree turn and pour ALL the resources into the system that we have at our disposal ... even if this means that badly needed projects elsewhere (e.g., Dr. Rowley's plans for East Port of Spain) have to be put on hold or cancelled. There is NOTHING more important than education. I would even argue that our health care system (which is most important) comes in a close second behind education.

We don't, for example, pay our teachers enough. The starting salary for a teacher is around TT$6,000 per month. That is ridiculous! It should be three times that amount! And it should go up by at least three times for every level after that. If you pay peanuts, do you expect to get world class scholars?

This country will never fix itself until we start at the beginning. It will take about twenty years to fix the problem. But most governments think only in terms of five year cycles. Time for a new Constitution? But that is another argument again!

But since then our national attention turned elsewhere and we did not pay the kind of attention to the education system that we ought to have paid. For example, in my opinion the salaries that we pay teachers is nothing short of a scandal and a complete disgrace. I understand that the starting salary for a brand new teacher is somewhere in the vicinity of $5,000 per month. This is awful. It should be AT LEAST three times that amount. Then again, it is not

All that said is injun took the gate education while red Goverment supporters played play wey

And then they migrate to "foreign" for a better life and when they succeed Gov't vex

Then Gov't follow these people to foreign and tell their natives to return home ..

For what ?

[hover11]

We not vex you know but you cannot deny that Gate caused a severe brain drain in this country.People simply took the free education and went foreign for a better life how is that helping Trinidad , it takes money to invest to educate someone and then they serve little to no return , how on God's green earth is that fair

Tuesday, November 17, 2020
THE CONTINUING UNWILLINGNESS TO FIX THE EDUCATION SYSTEM


It isn't always easy to avoid criticizing the Rowley regime, but sometimes it becomes absolutely necessary when it becomes apparent that rather than dealing with what is or ought to be important for the well being of the society, that the Government is operating more like a business rather than a government. Put another way, I have often said that you cannot run a country the way you run a business. Running a business entails not only balancing the books but making a profit. Running a country means that decisions have to be taken which are not only in the best short term interests of the society, but also in the best long term interests as well.

What has aroused my concerns is the announcement at the end of last week by the erstwhile Minister of Education in which massive cuts were declared in the GATE program ... the program which provides subsidized tertiary education for a wide swath of students. That the cuts are going to hurt many students is a given. What is also a given is that there will be a sizable number of very poor students who will be unable to access tertiary education.

So? Let them eat cake? The problem here is that of all the programs or facilities for people that ought to be cut, I would argue that education is just about the last one that ought to be tampered with. No country can lift itself out of poverty without a good, viable and efficient education system. That the PNM and Dr. Eric Williams did just that in the period 1956 to about 1970 is true and we owe a tremendous amount to Dr. Williams for this is true.

But here we are many, many years later and education seems to have taken a back seat in the Rowley regime's push to modernize the country. There are some people even who detect a certain racism in the regime's effective downgrading and cancelling many of the GATE programs. These people argue that they think this because they see East Indians as being the major beneficiaries of GATE and that this is a way of slowing down the rise of the East Indians against the Africans in the society. I don't know if that perception can be backed up with facts, but the mere fact that the perception exists is as unfortunate as it is disturbing and means that the regime is seen by many to be racist. Beauty, after all, is in the eye of the beholder and not the beholden.

Look, in my opinion it is better to stay away from thoughts like this. It is my respectful view that regardless of whatever is motivating the regime to slash spending on education it needs to do a complete 180 degree turn and pour ALL the resources into the system that we have at our disposal ... even if this means that badly needed projects elsewhere (e.g., Dr. Rowley's plans for East Port of Spain) have to be put on hold or cancelled. There is NOTHING more important than education. I would even argue that our health care system (which is most important) comes in a close second behind education.

We don't, for example, pay our teachers enough. The starting salary for a teacher is around TT$6,000 per month. That is ridiculous! It should be three times that amount! And it should go up by at least three times for every level after that. If you pay peanuts, do you expect to get world class scholars?

This country will never fix itself until we start at the beginning. It will take about twenty years to fix the problem. But most governments think only in terms of five year cycles. Time for a new Constitution? But that is another argument again!

But since then our national attention turned elsewhere and we did not pay the kind of attention to the education system that we ought to have paid. For example, in my opinion the salaries that we pay teachers is nothing short of a scandal and a complete disgrace. I understand that the starting salary for a brand new teacher is somewhere in the vicinity of $5,000 per month. This is awful. It should be AT LEAST three times that amount. Then again, it is not

All that said is injun took the gate education while red Goverment supporters played play wey

And then they migrate to "foreign" for a better life and when they succeed Gov't vex

[RedVEVO]

We not vex you know but you cannot deny that Gate caused a severe brain drain in this country.People simply took the free education and went foreign for a better life how is that helping Trinidad , it takes money to invest to educate someone and then they serve little to no return , how on God's green earth is that fair

Tuesday, November 17, 2020
THE CONTINUING UNWILLINGNESS TO FIX THE EDUCATION SYSTEM


It isn't always easy to avoid criticizing the Rowley regime, but sometimes it becomes absolutely necessary when it becomes apparent that rather than dealing with what is or ought to be important for the well being of the society, that the Government is operating more like a business rather than a government. Put another way, I have often said that you cannot run a country the way you run a business. Running a business entails not only balancing the books but making a profit. Running a country means that decisions have to be taken which are not only in the best short term interests of the society, but also in the best long term interests as well.

What has aroused my concerns is the announcement at the end of last week by the erstwhile Minister of Education in which massive cuts were declared in the GATE program ... the program which provides subsidized tertiary education for a wide swath of students. That the cuts are going to hurt many students is a given. What is also a given is that there will be a sizable number of very poor students who will be unable to access tertiary education.

So? Let them eat cake? The problem here is that of all the programs or facilities for people that ought to be cut, I would argue that education is just about the last one that ought to be tampered with. No country can lift itself out of poverty without a good, viable and efficient education system. That the PNM and Dr. Eric Williams did just that in the period 1956 to about 1970 is true and we owe a tremendous amount to Dr. Williams for this is true.

But here we are many, many years later and education seems to have taken a back seat in the Rowley regime's push to modernize the country. There are some people even who detect a certain racism in the regime's effective downgrading and cancelling many of the GATE programs. These people argue that they think this because they see East Indians as being the major beneficiaries of GATE and that this is a way of slowing down the rise of the East Indians against the Africans in the society. I don't know if that perception can be backed up with facts, but the mere fact that the perception exists is as unfortunate as it is disturbing and means that the regime is seen by many to be racist. Beauty, after all, is in the eye of the beholder and not the beholden.

Look, in my opinion it is better to stay away from thoughts like this. It is my respectful view that regardless of whatever is motivating the regime to slash spending on education it needs to do a complete 180 degree turn and pour ALL the resources into the system that we have at our disposal ... even if this means that badly needed projects elsewhere (e.g., Dr. Rowley's plans for East Port of Spain) have to be put on hold or cancelled. There is NOTHING more important than education. I would even argue that our health care system (which is most important) comes in a close second behind education.

We don't, for example, pay our teachers enough. The starting salary for a teacher is around TT$6,000 per month. That is ridiculous! It should be three times that amount! And it should go up by at least three times for every level after that. If you pay peanuts, do you expect to get world class scholars?

This country will never fix itself until we start at the beginning. It will take about twenty years to fix the problem. But most governments think only in terms of five year cycles. Time for a new Constitution? But that is another argument again!

But since then our national attention turned elsewhere and we did not pay the kind of attention to the education system that we ought to have paid. For example, in my opinion the salaries that we pay teachers is nothing short of a scandal and a complete disgrace. I understand that the starting salary for a brand new teacher is somewhere in the vicinity of $5,000 per month. This is awful. It should be AT LEAST three times that amount. Then again, it is not

All that said is injun took the gate education while red Goverment supporters played play wey

And then they migrate to "foreign" for a better life and when they succeed Gov't vex

What fair in life ?

The $$ for GATE and Education is not attached to slavery

It's people's life and they will seek success for their family .

Others stay with NO EDUCATION and then want to tell others what to do ?

What has T&T really achieved since 1961 ?

Is the quality of life of it's citizens so pleasing and pleasant that people run back to work in T&T ?

[sMASH]

farris alrental achieving plenty. camille acheive plenty, karren nunez theifchera, marlene, u see the house hinds have on a minister salary, u never hear him win a case yet.

have plenty money to make here, brain drain helping to make room for the fresh ones to get a chance.

[De Dragon]

farris alrental achieving plenty. camille acheive plenty, karren nunez theifchera, marlene, u see the house hinds have on a minister salary, u never hear him win a case yet.

have plenty money to make here, brain drain helping to make room for the fresh ones to get a chance.

Doh beat up, instead of feeling the pride only for President's House, JUHN Scarfy wah yuh feel it right through POS

[sMASH]

Make PoS Grate Again

[Numb3r4]

Is CEPEP still funded?

If GATE caused such a brain drain why blame those who left?
Shouldn't we be more concerned as to why they left?

If it is that they had job offers and still left well we have a problem but if they were qualified but still could not obtain a job isn't that what we should be figuring out?

Do we even want educated people in general?

[RedVEVO]

Is CEPEP still funded?

If GATE caused such a brain drain why blame those who left?
Shouldn't we be more concerned as to why they left?

If it is that they had job offers and still left well we have a problem but if they were qualified but still could not obtain a job isn't that what we should be figuring out?

Do we even want educated people in general?

Ready to fund CEPEP $$

Ready NOT to fund GATE $$

Tobago leadership is the most prized and sort after in the World

[death365]

this whole brain drain argument is null and void. there are many many countries that look at there human recourses as an export ; India - tech, Cuba - doctors and other medical, Philippines - Shipping personnel, Colombia - women of ill repute, there are others.

so what if Trinidad and Tobago exports our educated people; there workers generally sends back much needed UD$ to family members here. Plus we dont ready need more persons with BA and MBA in Business Management/ Marketing / entrepreneurship or what ever bs. general social science degrees .

[Dizzy28]

Do they though? Our remittances are the lowest in the entire LAC region at something like 1% of GDP. Our Diaspora is not that valuable to the country certainly not in monetary terms.

this whole brain drain argument is null and void. there are many many countries that look at there human recourses as an export ; India - tech, Cuba - doctors and other medical, Philippines - Shipping personnel, Colombia - women of ill repute, there are others.

so what if Trinidad and Tobago exports our educated people; there workers generally sends back much needed UD$ to family members here. Plus we dont ready need more persons with BA and MBA in Business Management/ Marketing / entrepreneurship or what ever bs. general social science degrees .

[zoom rader]

Do they though? Our remittances are the lowest in the entire LAC region at something like 1% of GDP. Our Diaspora is not that valuable to the country certainly not in monetary terms.

this whole brain drain argument is null and void. there are many many countries that look at there human recourses as an export ; India - tech, Cuba - doctors and other medical, Philippines - Shipping personnel, Colombia - women of ill repute, there are others.

so what if Trinidad and Tobago exports our educated people; there workers generally sends back much needed UD$ to family members here. Plus we dont ready need more persons with BA and MBA in Business Management/ Marketing / entrepreneurship or what ever bs. general social science degrees .

Oil, gas & LNG personnel get work abroad, from techs to Engineers. Brazil, Africa, Mid east UK. These counties like hiring Trinis cause they pay less and to a trini is alot of money.

Also in nursing & teaching. I was surprised to know that Cayman Islands employ alot of Trini teachers.

There are jobs abroad

[sMASH]

Quick to adopt people if they make it big even if is jess they tanty was a trini, but hating on ACTUALLY developing born and raised trini to make it big.

Bunch of hipocritical slave Catchers.

[Redman]

The question remains- are we getting value for what we put into it??

Or is it acceptable to continue to fund a persons education and not get any return.

[sMASH]

The question remains- are we getting value for what we put into it??

Or is it acceptable to continue to fund a persons education and not get any return.

on alwaris $20m curtain budget, or the vehicle tax subsidies for ministers?

[zoom rader]

The question remains- are we getting value for what we put into it??

Or is it acceptable to continue to fund a persons education and not get any return.

Students parents pay taxes , so yes parents are getting value for money on taxes paid.

Goverment full scholarships should be met with stipulations.

Red goverment Skull-ah -ships should be met with Jail

[pete]

Part of GATE stipulation is that you must work in the country for a fixed amount of time or become liable for repaying your tuition.

Same goes for Government scholarships.

[zoom rader]

Part of GATE stipulation is that you must work in the country for a fixed amount of time or become liable for repaying your tuition.

Same goes for Government scholarships.

Are these really enforced?

[sMASH]

Now getting enforced.

[hover11]

Why are we in Trinidad so reactive and never proactive, which is part of the reason we will always be a 3rd world country

Now getting enforced.

[Redress10]

Part of GATE stipulation is that you must work in the country for a fixed amount of time or become liable for repaying your tuition.

Same goes for Government scholarships.

Are these really enforced?

A man get an international schol to study med and never even come back to TT. The tuition spent on that person alone could have paid for about 5 other students to study med at UWI for free.

Enforced my arse.

[sMASH]

i have spoken to people that accessed gate and went abroad to work (dubai), did not fulfil the mandatory work back home, cause the pay they get when they reach was more than worth it to repay the GATE.

that way better than the house slave system of the nit picking who getting GATE and who not.
look what went on; the local get education, worked locally to get some experience, went abroad for people willing to a sheit ton more than what they could get here, the person getting a good salary, the resident country getting a skilled worker it needed, trinidad getting its tuition back, and it got a vacancy opened up to give someone else a chance locally cause the first person decided to work outside.
every body frackin win.


problem is, an educated citizen is counter to PNM stability. keep u distracted, hungry and dotish and that is a pnm vote for the next 40 years surety

[zoom rader]

i have spoken to people that accessed gate and went abroad to work (dubai), did not fulfil the mandatory work back home, cause the pay they get when they reach was more than worth it to repay the GATE.

that way better than the house slave system of the nit picking who getting GATE and who not.
look what went on; the local get education, worked locally to get some experience, went abroad for people willing to a sheit ton more than what they could get here, the person getting a good salary, the resident country getting a skilled worker it needed, trinidad getting its tuition back, and it got a vacancy opened up to give someone else a chance locally cause the first person decided to work outside.
every body frackin win.


problem is, an educated citizen is counter to PNM stability. keep u distracted, hungry and dotish and that is a pnm vote for the next 40 years surety

It's very easy to keep the red Goverment supporters in ignorance, this is why we have 320000 idiots that lack mental advancement with basic logic and reasoning.

[Redman]

Yep ....free education is counter to PNM policy....allyuh real smart

Jah bless Eric Williams

[zoom rader]

Yep ....free education is counter to PNM policy....allyuh real smart

Jah bless Eric Williams

Eric was hoping that his supporters would take advantage of the education that he provided

What they did not count on was the rapid advancement of non red Goverment folk in education. ASJA and SMDS made sure Indo kids did well.

When the Public service starting seeing an increase of qualified indos into goverment Jobs the red Goverment got scared. Selwyn Ryan wrote a report on this, but still and to this day a glass ceiling keeps Indos from advancement in the PS.

Remember the red Goverment lowered entry requirement from Cxc grade 11 to cxc grade 111 to accomadate it's supporters.

Indos rapidly starting getting UWI degrees without assistance before gate and Manning made it totally free to get red Goverment supporters access to UWI

When that failed, Costt and UTT was invented with lower entry requirements to accomadate the red Goverment supporters.

When all that failed the secret Skull ah ships was given out as a slush fund.

One beat books and other beat pan

[Hwells]

'Selwyn Ryan wrote a report on this,'

link that report i want to take a read

[bluefete]

'Selwyn Ryan wrote a report on this,'

link that report i want to take a read

That was about 15 years ago - circa 2005. Zoom my have a better time line than me.

[zoom rader]

'Selwyn Ryan wrote a report on this,'

link that report i want to take a read

The report was written in early 1990s .

Employment in the Public service, there was a passage where he explained the glass ceiling and the rapid entry of qualified indos into the PS. It was published in the media before the internet age.

In the mid 1980s there was warnings to the red Goverment that Indos were gaining prominence in the PS and private industry. It was only when Manning took over in 2001 that he tried to address the warnings.

Now we see how the red Goverment is addressing the warnings.