Ladies and Gentlemen,

I am proud to be here tonight to mark yet another milestone for the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology. This is the first year of the Annual Public School Scholarship Award and it is my absolute pleasure to be here this evening to announce and recognize our winners. It is a very proud moment for the 18 recipients and I see many proud parents, family members, school administrators and teachers. I offer the very heartiest congratulations to all of you.

In 2012, when I assumed this Ministerial post, I made a commitment to provide our public school students with more opportunities for scholarships to tertiary level institutions.

To ensure that I was able to deliver on that promise, I engaged the expertise of Mrs. Monique Hinsey, a scholarship and college expert who, in one short year, has helped the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology, secure financial partners to send more of our students off to tertiary level institutions. Mrs Hinsey will be giving you a more detailed overview of our new initiative but I would like to state that collectively, The Government of The Bahamas along with four Colleges and Universities will be investing close to 1.4 million dollars in public school students in the form of scholarships over the next four years.

I would like to thank the Public School Scholarship Committee, The Ministry of Education’s Scholarships & Loans Division and the Scholarship Resource Centre for the arduous job they perform in screening and interviewing the candidates for this award.

They have worked assiduously with colleges and universities in the US and Canada to close the financial gap that many of our first generational public school students are being confronted with annually.

I would also like to thank the officials, administrators and teachers of the Ministry of Education, Science & Technology who are working to bring our public secondary schools in alignment with best practices to ensure that our students are graduating and are prepared for college. This scholarship award would not be possible if our students were not academically prepared to meet the demands of college.

A special thank you must be extended to Monroe College in New Rochelle, New York. Monroe College and The Ministry of Education have committed 1.1 million dollars worth of scholarships for 13 public school students from Nassau and Grand Bahama for the next 4 years. This breaks down to $22, 000.00 per academic year, per student.

Dr. Geneive Brown Metzger, Director of Government Relations for Monroe College wanted to share the following tonight:

"Monroe is committed for the long term to the Bahamas and we are pleased to partner with the Ministry of Education in expanding access to tertiary education. The College looks forward to welcoming thirteen scholarship recipients from The Bahamas into the international student community this fall."

We thank Monroe College for their generous support, along with Texas Southern University, who are partnering with us to give $120,000.00 worth of scholarships; Taylor University, who is partnering with us to give $160, 000.00 in scholarships and Holland College who is partnering with us to give $150,000.00 in scholarships - Thank you to all of these institutions for your commitment to our students.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

To stress the importance of this particular scholarship initiative, let me share this fact:

At present, less than 20% of the students graduating from the public secondary high schools in The Bahamas transition to pursue postsecondary education. There are a number of identifiable variables that may account for this but the most obvious are the financial barriers prohibiting students’ access to local and international scholarships and financial aid opportunities. Furthermore, less than 10% of public school students apply for and benefit from scholarships provided by the Ministry of Education to study abroad. Additionally, less than 20% of public school students apply for the bursary to attend the College of The Bahamas. This is generally due to a lack of awareness of the scholarships available and we at the Ministry are trying to increase these numbers by placing more emphasis on college awareness, readiness and preparation.

Most of the scholarship recipients sitting in the audience tonight, will be the first in their family to attend college and receive a college education.

Let me take this moment to acknowledge the school's from which our recipients have recently graduated;

· Anatol Rodgers Senior High School
· Jack Hayward High School
· C.I. Gibson Senior High School
· C.V. Bethel Senior High School
· Government High School
· St. George's High School and
· R. M. Bailey Senior High School

Members of the press please take note. I look forward to this week's educational headlines and can envision them now;

· "Public School Scholars Soar";

· "18 Top Public School Students Receive Scholarships";
· "Meet Our Future Leaders; 18 of the Country's Best and Brightest Graduates from the Public School Sector";

Maybe I'd should take this opportunity to thank the media for recognizing and providing excellent coverage of our All Bahamas Merit Scholarship Recipients - I have no doubt that you will do the same for our Public School Scholars.

The eighteen scholarship recipients in the audience tonight are solid students who have achieved a cumulative GPA of 3.0 and higher, are involved in extracurricular activities and have made contributions to their schools and communities. I'd also like to indicate that they all met the admissions requirements of their various colleges and universities - so none of the students here have been given a hand out; just a helping hand up.

These students are also perusing areas of study that will meet the national career needs of The Bahamas. They will be studying everything from Music and Theatre to Public Health Administration, Accounting, International Business Management and Information Technology, just to name a few.

Before I address our Scholarship Recipients directly, allow me to thank another group of well deserving people:

Parents and guardians please stand----

To the parents and guardians who have struggled and sacrificed to provide the best opportunities for their students, to the parents and guardians who have given of their time and energy to make sure that they were exposing their academic scholars to all of the opportunities that interested them, to the parents who have always provided an environment of learning and support for their academic scholars and who have probably more times than not, walked by faith and not by sight, on behalf of the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology, I give you my wholehearted gratitude.

Parents, you are the pillars upon which our country is supported and we thank you not only for your commitment to your children, but for your contributions to the growth and development of our nation. Congratulations on your achievements tonight.

---you may be seated.

I now turn to our honorees;

Students, please stand.

I want to say thank you. Every year I’m impressed with your insight, brilliance and fortitude. You make us proud with your commitment to your schools, to your communities and to your education.

As scholarship recipients, I want to remind you of your responsibilities to your donor, The Commonwealth of The Bahamas - to do your best work and to represent us well. I have no doubt that you will.

This upcoming semester, when you find yourself buried beneath a mountain of books or when you find yourself in a lab that is demanding and taking everything out of you, or when you understand not one word coming out of your Professors mouth, just keep the faith and remember that we, The Government of The Commonwealth of The Bahamas and your College, believe in you. We believe in spending the resources to develop each and every one of you and we hope that you go on to develop yourselves, and then come back and create a stronger and more modern nation right here in our small, but mighty country.

We are counting on your research, innovation, and enterprise so that we are able to continue this cycle of giving and continue to improve our society and our economy at large.

Remember this as you begin this new and exciting chapter in your lives and know that you have the support of a nation behind you.

Congratulations, once again.

--you may be seated

Ladies and gentlemen,

Tonight is a clear example of why public private partnerships are so important to the growth and development of a nation. In this case, our partnership with the universities and colleges represented here have allowed for an increase in access to tertiary education for those who otherwise would not have been able to afford it.

Again, I thank the efforts of the Scholarship and Loan Division of the Ministry of Education, in particular Monique Hinsey, and I'd also like to thank local representatives from our partner colleges and universities, who attended tonight.

I have been told that next year, we can anticipate even more college and university partnerships and therefore more Public School Scholarship Recipients and I look forward to that.

Ladies and gentlemen,

On behalf of The Ministry of Education, Science and Technology, I'd like to once again congratulate the scholarship recipients, the parents and guardians, and the schools for producing scholars of excellence.

Thank you and good evening.