Minister of Education Jerome Fitzgerald said yesterday that a reduced budget allocation for The College of The Bahamas in 2013/2014 will have no impact on the quality of service at the institution.

 The College of The Bahamas has been allocated $21.5 million, a decrease of $3.5 million. This amounts to a reduction of around 14 percent.

 COB and other agencies that get government subsidies were asked to reduce their reliance on government funding by 10 percent in the 2013/2014 fiscal year.

Fitzgerald said COB spent less than was budgeted for the college in the current fiscal year. He said the reduced amount given to the college in the upcoming fiscal year takes those savings into account.

"At the end of the day the cuts will not impact the delivery of services, and also we increased scholarships to ensure that those who are not able to afford or are in financial straights will be able to qualify for financial aid," Fitzgerald said.

"Even during this year's budget, the expenditure came in at a lot less than was anticipated. So essentially all of the government ministries actually spent less money than we had budgeted for. So I think when you look at what COB actually spent, at the end of the day the cut was more in line with what they actually spent as opposed to what was budgeted."

He said he does not expect students to complain about not being able to afford tuition and fees at COB because the government has increased funding for financial aid.

 The government allocated $42.6 million to the Ministry of Education in the 2013/2014 fiscal year, a decrease of $6.5 million.

 President of the Bahamas Union of Teachers (BUT) Belinda Wilson told The Nassau Guardian yesterday that she is pleased with the government's commitment to higher education.

 During his budget communication last week, Prime Minister Perry Christie said that under an agreement with the Caribbean Development Bank, the government has allocated $30 million for special education and transforming COB to university status, Christie said.

He also said the government plans to spend $5.5 million to construct more schools on the Family Islands.

 Wilson said that while she believes the government has given education significant funding in the new fiscal year, she will monitor the spending carefully.

Debate on the budget is expected to begin this morning.

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