Bursary awards were presented to 28 children of serving and deceased members of the Guyana Defence Force last Friday for being successful at the Secondary Schools Entrance Examination.

Bursary awardees with senior army officers. Colonel Mark Phillips is seated third from left.

The award ceremony took place at Base Camp Ayanganna and awardees will each receive $25,000 over the next five years of their secondary schooling making the 2008 bursaries worth some $3.5M, a release from the GDF stated.

“Stay in school. Get a sound education. To be successful in the world today, education is the key! Education is your path to real freedom,” Colonel Mark Phillips told the awardees during  the ceremony.

Meanwhile, Ryan Reynolds, Keval Harlequin and Belinda Bess received prizes for being the most outstanding awardees.

The GDF began issuing bursary awards in 1974 and since then the number of awardees moved up from five  that year to 28 now  while the amount awarded has been hiked by 150%  from $10,000 last year to $25,000 currently.  A total of 614 students have been awarded bursaries by the Army so far.