{"id":260590,"date":"2025-12-07T13:10:03","date_gmt":"2025-12-07T17:10:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/?p=260590"},"modified":"2025-12-07T14:50:26","modified_gmt":"2025-12-07T18:50:26","slug":"pm-browne-says-waiver-of-cxc-fees-not-done-for-political-reasons","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/pm-browne-says-waiver-of-cxc-fees-not-done-for-political-reasons\/","title":{"rendered":"PM Browne Says Waiver of CXC Fees \u2018Not Done for Political Reasons\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"
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PM Browne Says Education Fee Policy \u2018Not Done for Political Reasons\u2019<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Prime Minister Gaston Browne <\/a>says his administration\u2019s move to cover CSEC examination fees<\/a> and eliminate tuition at national tertiary institutions was \u201cnot done for political reasons\u201d but to remove longstanding financial barriers that prevent young people from pursuing their education.<\/p>

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Speaking Saturday on the Browne and Browne<\/em> show, the Prime Minister said the policy is intended \u201cprecisely to ensure that no one is precluded from sitting a subject or several subjects because of a lack of money<\/a>,\u201d and to guarantee that \u201cevery single youth in this country\u2026 will have the opportunity to access university education <\/a>not because they do not have money but because they have the ability to pursue\u201d their degree.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Browne linked the government\u2019s position to his own upbringing, recalling that he grew up in a single-parent household and could not afford exam fees<\/a>.<\/p>

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\u201cMy father was a deadbeat father\u2026 so it\u2019s my late grandfather who actually covered the cost otherwise I may not have been able to sit those subjects,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He argued that many families still face similar hardships, noting that some parents \u201chad to sell a pig, sell a cow\u201d to cover exam costs and that some students have been unable to sit their subjects at all due to financial constraints.<\/p>

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\u201cIt\u2019s a real issue\u2026 you have people out there who are generally struggling,\u201d he said.<\/p>

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Browne also criticised what he described as public political posturing by two opposition parliamentarians, saying they had recently highlighted their payment of exam fees for individual students. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

He contrasted this with his own practice of assisting families \u201croutinely for years\u2026 and at no point I ever repeated that I helped to pay for anybody\u2019s subject.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Prime Minister further referenced an earlier incident involving MP Algernon \u201cSerpent\u201d Watts, accusing him of \u201cpublic shaming\u201d a mother who sought help paying exam fees for her children.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He said the encounter \u201cwas one of the most dastardly acts committed against any individual in this country.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As part of the government\u2019s broader education agenda, Browne reaffirmed that tuition at the University of the West Indies Five Islands Campus will become free for Antiguan and Barbudan citizens after planned expansion works, and that fees at the Antigua and Barbuda College of Advanced Studies (ABCAS) will be eliminated beginning next school year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThere are some who argue that perhaps we should limit the amount of subjects that we pay for,\u201d Browne said. \u201cMy position is they sit as many as they can. If it\u2019s 15, we\u2019ll pay for all 15. If it\u2019s 20, we pay for all 20.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He added that the government is committed to \u201cremoving the barriers\u201d and \u201cremoving the hurdles\u201d that stunt national development, particularly for young people.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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