| Despite some teething problems which are closer to being resolved, the University of Guyana’s offering of its Optometry Programme has proven to be one of the more sought after programmes in the Faculty of Health Sciences.According to Dean of Health Sciences, Dr. Emanuel Cummings, both the Bachelor of Science and the Associate Degree in Optometry programmes, have seen overwhelming responses. The University began offering the programmes last September, and the Dean revealed during an interview with this newspaper yesterday that “we have gotten 30 students in both areas. As a matter of fact we had to actually reject some students,” he disclosed.And it was not only local students who were attracted by the Optometry programme, Dr. Cummings said, adding that students from Saint Lucia, Jamaica and Haiti are currently a part of the inaugural batch. Students from the latter mentioned territory are able to access the programme through a scholarship programme designed specifically for them.However, the only notable setback of the programme,China Jerseys Cheap, Dr. Cummings revealed, was that of the students’ fees which had proven to be a problem. He attributed this to the fact that there was a conflict in terms of the fee which the University had programmed for,Wholesale NFL Jerseys, and the fee approved by the government, which is $127,000.As a result, students accessing the Optometry programme were not being offered loans through the Ministry of Finance to access the programme.“As far as I know this is being sorted out by the Government and it is being dealt with at the level of the University’s Council as well,” Dr Cummings said yesterday.According to him, due to the development of the fee predicament, one student has been affected so far. However,Cheap NFL Jerseys China, he assured that there has been a commitment from the University that once the loan arrangement is sorted out, that student will be allowed to participate in the final exam of the programme.The Optometry Programme, Dr Cummings said, is believed to be the first of its kind to be offered within a Caricom Member State, thus it has attracted much attention. Support for its introduction came from agencies the likes of Guyana Eye Care and the Caribbean Society for the Blind, from which substantial funding was derived to aid with infrastructure in terms of new classroom spaces, a laboratory for optometry, and even new offices to support the programme.It was one year ago that the programme was launched by Vice Chancellor of the University of Guyana, Professor Lawrence Carrington. The launch occurred on the occasion of the opening ceremony of the Caribbean Council for the Blind workshop at the Princess International Hotel,Cheap Adidas NHL Jerseys, which was intended to facilitate the start of a five-year eye health project dubbed ‘Delivering Vision 2020.’Accordingly, the workshop was seen as a most fitting forum to introduce the Optometry programme. At its launching,Jerseys Cheap China, Professor Carrington had related that the number of offerings in the study of Medical Arts and Sciences in Guyana have shown a steady expansion, through the Faculty of Health Sciences and the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation.He said that the addition of Optometry to the scope of the curriculum is a worthwhile complement to the current offerings.“It enhances the range of human health concerns for which the education system can take responsibility and heighten the level of self-reliance of Guyana.”According to Professor Carrington, the September (2010) and January (2011) versions of the programme both kept him up at night, as he thoroughly perused their outlines. He said that the Academic Board received the programme enthusiastically and “we are pleased to be able to endorse it in its entirety.”“Our satisfaction with the programme in Optometry is not derived exclusively from the fact that human sight is a primary attribute of human reality,Wholesale NFL Store, but because we are convinced that collaboration is an ethic that our university must seek to cultivate, exemplify and to propagate as part of its fulfilment of its mission,” Professor Carrington added. |
