The G.A.T.E. question

"The government who gets rid of G.A.T.E. is a government that has decided to retire."

This was my attitude for years, an attitude which time has made me lose confidence in. G.A.T.E. is a government programme in Trinidad and Tobago which funds tertiary education for citizens. This leads to large number of T&T citizens staying in the country for college. On the other hand, this system has invited abuse in past years because of poor regulation. Instead of tightening controls, from what I can tell the programme has just become less accessible to people. Arbitrary rules and regulations have been set up with means students have to jump through hoops in order to receive funding for their education. While there is a need to make sure that G.A.T.E. funds are used appropriately, these regulations have made it harder for students to even get the funding. Students now even have difficulty getting funding if they want to switch programmes, and often G.A.T.E. pays students' tuition late.

While I do not receive G.A.T.E. funding myself, most of my knowledge of the troubles associated with G.A.T.E. come from the experiences of my friends and family. While successive governments have tried to make G.A.T.E. more efficient, their efforts have been like a bull in a china shop. There is huge concern right now that students are abusing G.A.T.E. funds and wasting taxpayers' dollars. The concern is valid, however their approach is worrying.

Suggestions have been made that the programmes and institutions which qualify for G.A.T.E. funding be reviewed, or a 50/50 loan programme be put in place. How do you judge which programmes deserve to get G.A.T.E. funding? Do the sciences and law get prioritised over humanities and the arts? With the rising cost of education, how much can students really provide towards tuition?

As a nation we've decided on certain national priorities, education being one of them. Funding is expensive, but the rewards are greater than the expense. A nation with more educated people is a nation whose citizens are more productive and are more perceptive. Regardless of the degree, when a person is educated that person is empowered. By deciding that education is right, not a privilege we decide that nothing can disqualify a citizen from that right and that systems will be designed to prevent abuse of that right. Delinquency is a huge problem that has to be dealt with. Making access to fund for education creates more problems than it does solutions, It can end up decreasing the number of people who can reap the benefits of the system.

An Evening with Malala

I just got back from an event that the University of Trinidad and Tobago was hosting for their 10th anniversary and it was amazing. The University has, for the past few days, been hosting Malala Yousafzai and tonight's event was called an Evening with Malala. Firstly, the job the university did was amazing, everyone even got a free book!

(You can guess what's next on my to read list)

The event was well hosted and featured many aspects of Trinidadian culture, including song and dance. My favourite part was Krisson Joseph's rendition of "Education" by the Mighty Sparrow

But of course, the best part of the evening was hearing Malala speak. She praised Trinidad and Tobago's education for all policy  and spoke of other countries where she'd been where people didn't have access to opportunities like we did.  I also liked that, though she was very well spoken, she spoke like a 17 year old. She is young and brilliant and I'm proud of her, in a maternally 18 year old way. That girl does something to me, she touches my heart. All I can say to end this blog is I hope she has a good life, and I hope she takes care of herself.