Education Minister praises Chinese Embassy as 6 students get scholarships

THE Chinese Embassy has awarded scholarships to six TT students as part of its Ambassador Scholarship Award Programme.

Praising the embassy for this, Education Minister Dr Nyan Gadsby-Dolly urged citizens to put effort into building TT and to learning from China.

The ceremony was held at the San Juan North Secondary School on Thursday morning.

Gadsby-Dolly said when she was speaking to Chinese ambassador Fang Qiu, she commended the progress China has been making. However, he said: "We have more work to keep doing to keep our country as it is and to make it even better."

Gadsby-Dolly said, "And this is what all of us in TT have to take away from China's experience."

She said hard work makes one's country the place they want it to be and that it does not get there "by chance.

"And who has to do the work? It's us, the citizens of this country.

"We have to do the work. We have to believe that our country is worth the effort."

Effort, she said, means doing your tasks and jobs to the best of your ability.

"And so doing, it takes hard work, takes long hours sometimes...We will have to do things that we don't feel to do at the time, even though we know it's the right thing to do."

She asked students: "What do you call doing what you have to do regardless of what you feel to do?"

The answer, she said, is discipline.

"And that shines through in the Chinese experience – discipline.

She congratulated the "excellent students" on their achievement and reiterated that TT "is worth it.

"Our country is worth our effort.

"I want to encourage the media to highlight the positives of our country as well. Which is not to say that we have closed our eyes to the things we have to work on, but certainly there is so much to celebrate."

Qiu said he wishes to continue promoting the "long-standing, well-established" friendship between the two countries as it yields "fruitful results.

"The ever-expanding trade volumes, the National Academy for Performing Arts, the Couva Children’s Hospital, the Phoenix Park Industrial Estate and dozens of other co-operation projects function as an important pillar for the bilateral relations and is injecting new impetus to the social economic development of this country and benefit more people."

He added that despite the difference in size between the two countries, there are many similarities, including the importance of education.

"Young people are the most energetic and promising part of the society, and the only way to build a stronger self and a stronger nation is investing in education.

"Chinese President Xi Jinping repeatedly emphasises that education determines the present and future of mankind. Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley also said that young people are the country's greatest asset.

"I see on the faces of the young people of this country an eagerness for knowledge, a determination for success and a confidence in the future, largely owing to the solid education they receive both in school and at home."

He praised the awardees, saying he has great hope in them and urged them to remain loyal to their country.

Awardees:

Anya Charles - San Juan North Secondary School

Nicholai Walker - San Juan North Secondary School

Gianna Plaza - Bishop Anstey High School (East)

Zianne Richards - Bishop Anstey High School (East)

Reneece Robert - St George's College

Tristian Craig - St James Secondary School