GOVERNMENT IS BEING urged to show greater support for Barbadians studying in Cuba.

While lauding Government for the $4 000 grant given to each student at the beginning of the year, director for international affairs in the Clement Payne Movement, David Denny, said it should be supplemented with a monthly payment of US$100, in line with what other Caribbean countries were doing.

In addition, he called for the loans some of the students were "forced" to take out from the Student Revolving Loan Fund to be converted to grants.

Denny justified his requests by stating each student who went to Cuba saved the Government $20 000 a year in tuition.

He was speaking at an inaugural congratulatory ceremony for the first 15 Barbadian graduates from the Cuba scholarship programme, held by the Barbados Parents' Association of students in Cuba. The subjects ranged from physical education and dentistry to architecture and chemical engineering.

Ambassador to CARICOM, John Williams, admitted there were also problems with accreditation for the students, an issue that was being reviewed by the Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Health.

He said the first batch of medical students was scheduled to return next year and would have to go through a period of internship before they could be allowed to practise.

Williams added that he wanted to see greater advertising for the programme, saying it needed radio, television and internet exposure to be more effective.

In spite of the problems, he praised the programme and the part played by the Clement Payne Movement and the unions, as well as Government.

"Barbados has always had strong ties with Cuba. Successive governments have maintained this and this Barbados Labour Party Government is no exception. Over the last seven years we have witnessed systems being put in place which under normal circumstances never would have been developed," he said.

He said students who studied in Cuba were a cultural bridge to Latin America and beyond, so therefore were more marketable than students leaving Cave Hill (University of the West Indies) with similar qualifications. (CA)