THE Government through the Ministry of Education has paid a total of $10milllion in COVID-19 allowance package to local students studying in overseas educational institutions.
This was revealed by the Minister of Education and Human Resources Development (MERHD) Lanelle Tanangada in parliament on Wednesday when contributing to a motion to approve the proclamation declared by the Governor-General (GG) to extend the State of Public Emergency (SoPE) for further four months.
The motion was passed late Wednesday after two days of debate.
Ms. Tanangada in her contribution said her ministry has supported local overseas students both sponsored and private.
Stranded nationals were also supported, she added.
“My ministry has supported students on scholarships with COVID-19 allowance package and privately sponsored tertiary students and stranded nationals,” she said.
“This is a one-off payment to support their studies plus their ongoing students’ allowances,” she said.
Of the $10million SBD$8,735,141 ($8.7m) was released for students on scholarship and SBD$1,338,165.00 ($1.3m) for privately sponsored students and stranded nationals, Minister Tanangada told parliament.
This paper understands that most of the students received their allowances during the second week of this month.
Ms. Tanangada said the ministry also supported the repatriation of students from some of the boarding national secondary schools.
She also told parliament that currently there are 3953 government-funded students.
Of the total, about 2110 students are currently studying abroad in various regional and international educational institutions.
A total of 1843 government-funded students are studying in the country.
By MOFFAT MAMU
