Kamla pledges aid for UWI
Published:Friday | July 9, 2010 | 12:00 AM
Philip Hamilton, Gleaner Writer
Trinidad and Tobago (T&T) Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar has pledged to boost funding for programmes and research projects at the Mona campus of the University of the West Indies (UWI).
Persad-Bissessar, a former lecturer and student at Mona, made the announcement yesterday at a function held in her honour while on a tour of the campus.
Responding to earlier comments by UWI principal Professor Gordon Shirley on the Jamaican Government's slashing of the university's subvention by 20 per cent, the T&T prime minister said the education offered at Mona was the passport out of poverty for many people.
"What you have is greater than any diamond or gold. What you can offer here, the education that you can give, is the key to grow out of poverty and hard times," said Persad-Bissessar to members of the university community.
"So many of us were blessed to have that education and many others will continue to be blessed."
Persad-Bissessar said the Trinidad government would be doing all it could to sustain the institution.
The T&T prime minister also met with students from the twin-island state enrolled at Mona.
Persad-Bissessar also signed the university's guestbook, which bears signatures of several dignitaries, including late British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, Queen Elizabeth II and her husband, Prince Philip, as well as former South African President Nelson Mandela and Winnie Mandela.
UWI vice-chancellor Professor E. Nigel Harris was presented with a gift by Persad-Bissessar comprising three bound volumes of the prime minister's speeches for use in the university's library.