Walton Brown Calls For “Silent Sit-In” Over Cuts
Shadow Minister for Education, Walton Brown is today calling for a “Silent Sit-in” in a campaign to persuade the Government to restore funding for the Further Education Awards to its 2012 levels.
The “Silent Sit-in” will take place Tuesday May 6 at 12 noon at the public park located on the Cabinet grounds.
The PLP said, “In 2012, a total of $760,000 was allocated for students; in 2014 that figure was reduced by 95% to $40,000, an insult to prospective college students and their parents.”
Mr Brown commented, “Access to higher education is critical to creating genuine equality of opportunity and these funds must be restored.”
“I have pleaded with the Premier and the Education Minister to restore this funding; and I have approached Permanent Secretary Ross Webber, all to no avail.
“This morning I have written to the Premier and Minister to inform them of this sit-in and to invite them to address the students and parents who will be present.
“I encourage students, parents and all who want funds put back into these education awards to join us as we try to persuade the government to do the right thing,” added Mr. Brown.
I call for Walton Brown to be just plain “silent”. We would enjoy the peace…
Thanks for standing up for our “Young People.” Education of our young people for the future is key. A country is often measured by its level of progress based upon the level of education of their people. A government does have a certain level of responsibility to ensure that they play a significant role in making sure this happens. DEEP RACIAL CUTS by the government does not help our young people reach higher goals of success for Bermuda’s future.
As the job market continues to change and evolve Education is a MUST. A government must be prepared to work to ensure that its most important resources our young people are ready for it. YOUNG PEOPLE are our future.
EVERYONE Should STAND UP on this matter, regardless of their political affiliations, this is a very significant factors as it impacts our young people’s future.
Lets Stand for our Future,
Lets stand for Bermuda
Lets stand for our future generations
Lets stand to ensure our young people meet with success !!
If we are to reach real peace in this world… we shall have to begin with children.” – Mahatma Gandhi
Most countries worldwide ensure that they invest in their young people. Education is not something they even blink at, it is a give. Help is often readily available to young people whom are unlikely to afford higher education and often are the first in their families to go College overseas. I can not fathom how Bermuda can walkaway from such an important matter with out a heavy heart.
I am amazed how England, Italy and other European countries give so much to higher education of their younger generation of citizens, and we walk away from it. Take off your political hats, as this matter is bigger than that, this is a serious issue facing our young people.
Please people stand up for our young people, who are our future.
College funding is being reduced in the countries you listed, and fees are going up.
Please be aware that cuts in other countries are not as great as in Bermuda, a much higher percentage of students are still afforded governmental support for higher education. Bermuda’s numbers are merely a drop in the bucket. I think your comparison does not even come close.
Have a heart, take off your political hats and stand for our young people. It does not hurt to have a more caring heart that reaches out to ensure the best future for our young people. I am sure that not all the OBA fans are not so cold-hearted or defensive.
Stand with Us.
So that makes it the right thing to do?
She brought up the other countries, not me. She’s wrong. Public funding for college education is very limited, and fees are going up.
why don’t we double your property tax to pay for them!
What has DEEP RACIAL CUTS to do with education funding?
“The greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the way its animals are treated … I hold that, the more helpless a creature, the more entitled it is to protection by man from the cruelty of man.”
Mahatma Gandhi
Ya and Gandhi was racist toward Black South Africans !!!!!!!!
Is this something you have made up or a fact? Please post the link, I would be very interested in reading this.
Where was Mr. Brown when his PLP Government was bankrupting Bermuda? He would have some credibility if he had held a protest then. He is clearly trying to create anti-OBA feelings amongst college age young Bermudians who are too naïve to recognize that they are being used as political pawns.
He is gone now. To a different portfolio.
Walton.
Do us all a favor and stay in the shadow/s.
Really. More propaganda from the PLP.
If yoo lutt ain strykin yah sittin hin or dahn.
Well done Mr. Brown. The cuts to these scholarship funds will predominantly affect Bermudians kids that need the assistance the most. How else will they become qualified to obtain jobs that the IB and certain sectors are advertising for?
A silent sit-in will show the numbers of people that support increasing the further education pay outs, without being disruptive and antagonistic. Hopefully Premier Cannonier and Minister Gibbons will give the courtesy to acknowledge the crowd.
These are ‘further education’ scholarships (i.e. for people who already attained their bachelors degree) and not college scholarships.
The college scholarships amount is budgeted for $1mn per annum.
If you don’t know what you’re talking about, say nothing. The further education awards are for both undergraduate and postgraduate degrees. It’s funny (I’m being sarcastic for all you OBA ostriches) how they’ve cut down on education but not travel expenses. Seems like the cut in scholarships is a concerted effort by the government of the day to stifle Bermudians. How can people get a job in this society without a degree? Seems a no-brainer that in order to get people working and productive, we first need to educate and empower them. A cut in scholarship funding does the complete opposite.
the premier and minister gibbons are at rims
read the release. The sit in is NEXT WEEK.
Maybe Walton can donate the funds!!
This is not about Mr. Brown or the PLP, this is about our Young People and their futures. It is important that we ensure that our young people are afforded opportunities to higher education. It is important for the future success of Bermuda. Education speaks to the heart of country’s success and ensures that we grow into a more successful developing nation. Lets not get silly, as I am sure OBA fans are capable of more politically mature dialogue.
Stand for our Young People !!
So the answer is to not only sit and do nothing, but also not to say anything either.
Doesn’t get much more Bermudian than this.
Sit, do nothing, say nothing, and hope to achieve something.
Only in Bermuda.
Instead of sitting silently over cuts to the further education awards. Perhaps, if they want to further their education apply to any and every scholarship. While they are at it pack some groceries, wash some dishes, or clean someone’s yard. There are jobs out there, they may pay $10 an hour but that is more than $0. Stop waiting for someone to help you up. If I had waited for that I would still be waiting.
Success comes to those who help themselves.
I call back the plp to give back all the missing funds and use that money help to support the kids.
Given no funds went missing you’d have a tough time getting any.
BPS, Scotland Yard, FBI – and still nothing – yet people go on about stolen funds!
Jesus C****t , is there no understanding whatsoever by these fools what financial shape this Island is in ? ?*
And it will surely get better if we cut paths to education right???
It certainly won’t get better if we keep digging ourselves into debt in order to pay for the education. There are still paths available. For instance University of the people. The classes are free and it can be done from Bermuda and total for the Bachelor’s Degree is less than $1000. Don’t blame it on a lack of handouts. Handouts got us into this mess.
Free Bermuda College–Had to reverse it because we couldn’t afford it
Free childcare, free public transportation, etc.
It’s not free the Government pays for it and the people pay the Government.
If you hadn’t spent all the money PLP !
Wow trying to make it look like the lack of funds is the OBA ‘s fault.
The PLP sink to a new dirty low !!!!!!!
So the PLP “spent” the money on programs.
The OBA has “cut” the programs.
The PLP want the programs back and not cut.
How is this a dirty new low? Sounds like 2 differing views/sets of priorities. OBA can spend money on travel but not on students.
Simpleton
Be nice if all of the PLP drones like Walton Brown remain silent…I mean they have been coming out of the woodwork,this week geez….
Sure it would be nice if we had no opposition. A one party state just sounds so appealing doesn’t it.
I have a word you should look up on dictionary.com or even wikipedia its called: DEMOCRACY
in your world “opposition” means just taking the opposite view? Little that took place during the 14 years of the PLP would indicate they have much of a clue as to how to solve the mess they put Bermuda in…The educational system in Bermuda has as many administrators as educators why not get rid of a few and give deserving students scholarships? In your world we are stuck with the amount of people on the Government payroll…..Politicians are one of the few growth industries in Bermuda…..cut the size of Government and you can have all of the scholarships you need and maybe take some of the burden off of the private companies and individuals…..ok now which PLP drone is up next? Zane, Wayne, Walter?
I’m with Walton on this one. Reducing money spent on education should be a last resort. There are other things we can cut first.
Closing the Washington office is good start (as Walton previously suggested).
What exactly does the National Drug Control office do with their $4m budget, cause they aren’t doing a great job of controlling drugs.
How exactly does the Accountant General spend $82m a year?
Does the Regiment really need $7m or could we cut their budget by $1m so we can send some kids to college. Do we need the regiment? How many kids could we send to college with $7m a year, 200, 300?.
Government should be doing better here.
Jd.
Simple answer.
Stay in school. Graduate. Many don’t yet want something.
As for $82 million a year………………you really don’t read or research do you.
Huh?
Oh and its page 35 of the 2014/2015 Budget Statement, Table III Current Account Expenditure, under Ministry of Finance, cost centre 11. I’ll post a link if you are having trouble using your Google.
That $60m wasted on Grand Atlantic would have come in handy for this, wouldn’t it.
Well said – its called PRIORITIES.
I can see the priorities of the OBA bloggers who seem to want democracy stiffled doesn’t seem to be education.
That is the real shame!
Stiffled?
LOL.
Yes, stiffled.
Oh how about the $125,000,000 per year on debt payment for the next 100 years thanks to the debt that Walton and the rest of the PLP incompetents rang up……lots of things could be done with that….and when interest rates start to rise what then? Any solutions from the OPPOSITION for that? Didn’t’ think so…they only caused the problems and offer little to solve them……some opposition
Hey Waltie even your cousin said ‘the attitude of entitlement will be our downfall’ …. I worked my a__ off to pay my own tuition/board for 5 yrs…. plenty of private scholarships around for deserving students. We are BROKE, no more bursary cash for kids with their hand out.
Thank you swing voter!!! These socialist thinking people need to shut the heck up!!! I also agree when you say the Dreb was correct!!! Every time there is a cut announced all we here from a certain sector is ” don’t let it effect me??? ” where were they when their plp was taking us into this fiscal hell hole??? Until they have an answer, I say again, shut the heck up!!!!!
My point was that the Accountant General spent more than that in combination with other Government payments.
It’s all government thus your comment was misleading.
Shalom.
I truly believe that education is important and therefore I believe that we should be investing a little more in our young people as they are the future. The debt that has been created will need to be paid, but nevertheless we must ensure that Bermudians have the opportunity to succeed and walk into their purpose and destiny.
The cost of education in the USA, Canada and England has risen and therefore many Bermudians are finding it hard to ensure that there children complete their education. Many Bermudians can no longer afford to pay the cost for their children’s education. Moreover many of us who had our funds at British America for our children’s education lost everything and are now finding it difficult to afford the cost of higher education. These funds are now gone and the liquidated value of the funds received did not compensate for the $500 dollars a month or more that some of us were putting aside.
If Bermuda is to remain competitive it must invest in our young people. If Bermuda does not invest in its young people than what will transpire in the future is a country not only racially divided but educationally divided and ultimately a cast system. The majority of young adults that apply for educational grants, apply because they can not afford the fees on their own. Bermuda wake up, an education is important, a post secondary education is vital to our young people as we are competing in a global economy.
It is my opinion that if Bermuda invested the $800 million they most recently borrowed wisely, then they should have interest income coming in and some of this interest income should be used to increase the funding for educational grants.
In conclusion unless Bermuda wants to succeed in the future they have no choice but to invest in our young people. In order to increase the budget for education awards they need to look to eradicate waste in other areas. They also need to look at their fixed and variable cost and ascertain how they can control cost. For example departments that can be combined must be combined to eliminate cost. Shared services are a means of doing this. I am really tired of our children having to suffer because of this debt. We are all responsible for the debt but our children cannot be the victims for our lack of financial planning.
We must also remember that Bermuda does not have a four year university and therefore our children must be sent overseas to complete their education.
Mr Brown is a “DEMAGOGUE” like many in the PLP/BIU.
The Government “BORROWED” another $276Million dollars this year.
That was to pay Mr Brown and others like him who always complain.
We “OWE” $2.5Billion dollars accrued by the PLP/BIU in a few short years
We are PAYING MORE THAN $120Million dollars in interest on the HUGE DEBT.
Mr Brown and family are very affluent at this time maybe they should be “GENEROUS “enough to cover these cost.
I am a bit disappointed with this suggestion by a former lecturer of the College and Chairman of the Board. For students in their first or second year they can attend the bermuda college to start their college education. this is a wise to use government funding. why spend and sent our tax dollars overseas when we have a college. allow those who can afford their first or second year to go but if you in your third year and beyond then funding should be made available through scholarships and grans.
let us support our own.
It would be great if the defunt plp went silent forever!
I need a breakdown of which students were awarded funds,which schools they attended and which programs they enrolled in from the time the awards started to 2012 before I can comment.
The ONLY natural resource that Bermuda has are our people; for we do not grow enough to sustain the island nor do we manufacture anything that brings in revenue to the public purse. Our ONLY natural resource is our people, and, if we fail to properly educate them at university level then WE fail them. For our people are the sum of our gross national produce – GNP. It is our output in both the IB and tourism that puts funds into the public purse and those funds in return pay the Government’s bills and/or debts. If we have the next generation Bermudians under-educated, they will not be in any position to lead this country.
Bermuda needs to make the investment in its ONLY natural resource because it is the work ethic of Bermudians that will determine whether and when Bermuda comes out of recession, not Bob Richards, unless the default policy is to fill Bermuda with employees, salaried and wage earners, of foreign workers.
The fact that someone else (international business) can do it (give mass amounts for scholarships), is an excuse not a reason for failing to fund education at university level. And to cry that the public purse has a shortfall lacks both sincerity and conviction coupled with an inability to successfully plan for Bermuda’s future.
Compromise in others areas, but never on education as ultimately it gives back to sustain the healthcare system in Bermuda, which means you and me in our old age.
Government scholarships are not handouts, but a regeneration of Bermuda propelled through our natural resource – Bermudians.
London, England
Correction:
For our people are the sum of our gross domestic product – GDP…
Gross Domestic Product or GDP is combined of three sectors: manufacturing, services and construction.
Bermuda does not manufacture products, our services stem from IB, tourism, legal services, restaurants, etc, and there is the construction industry.
London, England
It’s all good saying the Govt. (O.B.A.) need to support / allocate X amount of dollars to the Further Education Awards but where will the Govt. find that money you claim to be a “must”?
@Raymond Ray…
If this Government were deadbeat broke then we would be genuinely approaching this issue from a very different point of view, BUT this Government is NOT broke, and is NOT going broke anytime soon. So, let’s dispense with the propaganda on this issue.
Fitch (a well respected international financial rating agency and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) hold Bermuda to be solvent, investment worthy (especially in funds over $100million), politically stable with a highly skilled workforce. International investors are more than just curious, they are quietly conducting in-depth feasibility studies on Bermuda.
When we speak and/or demonstrate that we are NOT prepared to invest in university level education for our own citizens, it is a very negative strike against us, because it puts added pressure (ultimately) on the investors to either pickup the slack or supply a foreign labour workforce – so they are placed between a rock and a hard place. Some will do the right thing, provide scholarships whilst others will do the most expedite thing, bring in their “specialised” foreign employees over Bermudians.
Haven’t we been down this road before with the UBP? We need to stop this negative regurgitation, make the education investment and hope that our children are grateful enough carry us in our old age as they produce and sustain a vibrant economy through their sound “Government” delivered university educations.
Dr Grant Gibbons, its time to demonstrate the value of your PhD to this country.
London, England
@Raymond Ray…
If this Government were deadbeat broke then we would be genuinely approaching this issue from a very different point of view, BUT this Government is NOT broke, and is NOT going broke anytime soon. So, let’s dispense with the propaganda on this issue.
Fitch (a well respected international financial rating agency) and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) hold Bermuda to be solvent, investment worthy (especially in funds over $100million), politically stable with a highly skilled workforce. International investors are more than just curious, they are quietly conducting in-depth feasibility studies on Bermuda.
When we speak and/or demonstrate that we are NOT prepared to invest in university level education for our own citizens, it is a very negative strike against us, because it puts added pressure (ultimately) on the investors to either pickup the slack or supply a foreign labour workforce – so they are placed between a rock and a hard place. Some will do the right thing, provide scholarships whilst others will do the most expedient thing, bring in their “specialised” foreign employees over Bermudians.
Haven’t we been down this road before with the UBP? We need to stop this negative regurgitation, make the education investment and hope that our children are grateful enough carry us in our old age as they produce and sustain a vibrant economy through their sound “Government” delivered university educations.
Dr Grant Gibbons, its time to demonstrate the value of your PhD to this country.
London, England
Stan …sit…makes no nevahmind to me…..but if it’s polyticians doin it dey bettah ha’sum beeno handy……with them bein quiet like dey indicate dat dey aww gonnah be….welllllll….if it’s not cumin out de mouth it’s gottah come out sumveah!
This is the same government that wanted to give the children of non-Bermudians work permits to complete with Bermuda’s own children in the summer job market where they work to help pay for their overseas school fees. What country does that; put in policies that destroy the future of it’s young people.
We must get rid of this anti-Bermudian OBA government not only for the survival of working Bermudians; but for the sake of our children’s future in this country.