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A Trinidad & Tobago-based educator underscored the importance of higher education to society as a whole in the wake of the announcement that structural changes will be made to the Prime Minister’s Scholarship Program.
“When we see what is happening in countries of the world, where the people who are not college educated are making certain political decisions, we have to realise that having an educated population is just not for the individual, but for the society, so we can all make the right decision,” Professor Rhoda Reddock, deputy principal of the University of the West Indies St. Augustine Campus, said yesterday.
Last week, Committee Chairman Maurice Merchant said the program, which is bursting at the seams, would be reducing its offerings. The plan is to cater to students applying only to campuses of UWI. Many have reacted negatively to the proposed changes, which take effect in September.
Reddock said when people within the region receive at least a university education, they are better able to monitor their own development and have politicians that understand the current state of affairs.
“That is what higher education also does, it develops a certain intellectual climate within the country that is very important for our development,” she said.
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