UWI to offer more scholarships to HMP residents

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Executive Director of the Lifelong Learning Unit Paula C M Lee ( File photo)
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By Makeida Antonio

[email protected]

Residents at Her Majesty’s Prison will soon benefit from increased access to more educational opportunities at the University of the West Indies Five Islands Campus.

According to the Executive Director of the Lifelong Learning Unit, Paula C M Lee, courses offered through scholarships will range from Entrepreneurship to new offerings, including Project Management, and Climate Change and its Effect on Health.

Earlier this year, HMP residents, Kaniel Martin, Joel Kwame’ Seraphin, Colin Murraine and Kenisha Whyte were the first HMP residents who received scholarships to the UWI Five Islands Campus Lifelong Learning Department.

A section of the prison was converted into an e-learning center to facilitate the programme, and all four residents were successful in their Entrepreneurship studies, having reportedly achieving the highest grades in their class.

Lee added that the scholarships to be made available to HMP residents each quarter of the year are an effort to support rehabilitation and reduce recidivism where a convicted criminal may re-offend.

“If we don’t find a way to ensure that these curious minds are filled with information that can help them to make better decisions upon their reintegration into society, they might become problematic to us again and have to return to the prison,” Lee told Observer over the weekend.

Lee believes that the skills possessed by residents at HMP, some of whom had careers prior to incarceration, are often overlooked, which leaves them to sit idly and miss opportunities for further development.

The Lifelong Learning Unit was established in August 2021 to cater to professionals and mature individuals seeking to realise potential and talents laying dormant due to difficulties accessing higher education in their early careers.

One of the main aims of the Unit is to assist in the development of the human capital of the Caribbean.

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