KINGSTON, Jamaica — The Ministry of Education, Youth and Information has given assurance that all final-year students at the University of the West Indies (UWI) who were facilitated through the ministry’s intervention programme for financial assistance will be allowed to sit their exams.

This agreement comes after Permanent Secretary Dean-Roy Bernard signed to the ministry’s commitment to pay to UWI all outstanding amounts relative to these students on or before May 31, 2017.The ministry said Bernard has been in dialogue with the Principal, Professor Archibald McDonald and Mikiela Gonzales, the Guild President on this matter and both have committed to partnering with the ministry to ensure the smooth implementation of administrative processes for the student’s participation in the Jamaica Values and Attitudes Programme for Tertiary Students (JAMVAT) and in the loan programme to be administered through the Students’ Loan Bureau (SLB).The ministry on April 19 intervened on behalf of finalising students who cannot afford their outstanding fees by announcing that $100 million has been allocated to the university.The institution faced widespread backlash after reports of anxiety among some final year students over the prospect that they may not be able to sit their final exams if hundreds of thousands of dollars owed in tuition and other fees to the institution were not paid.