The Chinese Embassy to Guyana on Thursday evening bid farewell to 20 Guyanese who will soon head to further pursue their education in China while at the same time, it welcomed the returning students.
Permanent Secretary of the Department of Public Service, Karen Vansluytman-Corbin (pink jacket), Director of the Department of International Cooperation, Forbes July, Student affairs official, Tanza McAlmont, Chinese Ambassador to Guyana HE Cui Jianchun and his wife, and Deputy Chief of the Chinese Embassy Chen Xilai (third from right) along with returned and outgoing students and other representatives of the embassy and PSM staff
In creating a more diversely trained public service ready to contribute to Guyana’s development, the scholarship awardees who were selected out of over 1000 applicants will now have the opportunity to study in a Chinese renowned university of their choice, in several provinces across China in various fields including medicine, engineering and several social sciences.
The students, who will study for a two-year period would have completed studies at the University of Guyana and graduated at the top of their classes.
The scholarships form part of the People’s Republic of China and the Cooperative Republic of Guyana’s continued bilateral support in all areas, ranging from trade to infrastructure to education.
Permanent Secretary of the Department of Public Service, Karen Vansluytman-Corbin reiterated the Department’s commitment to ensuring Guyanese students have access to a range of educational opportunities.
“We believe that training is the essence of transformation and is essential for the development of Guyana’s human capital… training continues to be pivotal and necessary in order for the public service to achieve its developmental objectives,” she noted.
In his feature remarks, Counsellor and Deputy Chief of Mission, Chen Xilai encouraged the outgoing students to make the most of the opportunity provided to them while challenging the returning students to invest in Guyana. Xilai noted that the Chinese Government places significant focus on education.
“The Chinese people attaches great importance to education and each year’s billions of dollars goes to education, in 2018, the Government’s expenditure in education accounts for about 4 per cent of the total GDP. Upon the strong support of Government, the Private Sector and stakeholders, many Chinese universities have become well known internationally and are playing very important roles in China’s national development” Xilai stated.
The Deputy Chief of Missions congratulated the students, noting that their accomplishment is no small feat.
“Congratulations! For this year, 10 million high school students took part in this year’s national university entrance examinations and less than 10 per cent of them can be accepted by the top universities that you are going to study,” Xilai said.
Navindra Persaud, one of the outgoing students, expressed his gratitude to the Chinese Embassy for granting him the scholarship.
However, returning student Serena Rambarran, a clinical medicine graduate from the Nanchang University in China, shared her experience.
“We accomplished what once seemed impossible. We formed the Guyana-China Students Association. Our vision is to deploy the skills obtained through mutual learning within the Association to contribute to the development of Guyana while bridging the gap between past, present and future Guyanese students…we formed lasting friendships and we enjoyed the Chinese cuisine, our time was a great one” Rambarran expressed.
Upon their return, the students will serve in the public sector in fields specifically related to their areas of study.
