The list, which the government had refused to provide, shows a picture of discrimination against citizens of Indian origin.
Senator Wade Mark first raised the issue in Parliament on February 26, 2008 in a question to the Minister of Community Development, Culture and Gender Affairs, Marlene McDonald.
In her response in the Senate on July 1 McDonald said disclosing the identities of the persons on the list would be a violation of their right to privacy since this information "would involve unreasonable disclosure of personal information."
But ITEC's attorney Anand Ramlogan used the FOIA to obtain the names and amounts for the scholarships.
A statement by ITEC says, "The document...reveals a very disturbing image where the Indo-Trinidadian population is significantly under-represented."
The grants provided by the Manning government total $46 million from the Ministry of Culture and Gender Affairs during the four-year period.
Among those named on the list are a Government Senator who received $143,100 for studies in London before taking office in 2006.
The list show that the ministry gave scholarships valued at $14.8 million to 266 students for studies abroad in 2007. The year before, 175 students were awarded scholarships totalling $10.4.
The other years were:
- 2005 - $10.1 million
- 2004 - $04.5 million
- 2003 - $0.88
But Ramlogan went to court on the matter and got the detailed list, which also outlines the awards for local and regional scholarships.
Ramlogan told the Trinidad Express the list reveals a form of political and racial discrimination that should not be tolerated.
"These are political scholarships except that it was being awarded by the State. It was not being funded by a political party," he said, adding that it "demonstrates the kind of political discrimination and exclusion of non-PNM supporters to access scholarship funds of this kind."
ITEC President Devant Maharaj said he became suspicious when the government refused to identify the names of the people who got the grants. McDonald had told Parliament that during the 2003 to 2007 the scholarships had not been advertised.
In a statement on the matter, Maharaj said "the very same Freedom of Information Act was used by us to uncover, to shine a light on this very illusive information which the Government had refused to give publicly," Maharaj said.
Government Senator Laurel Lezama was one of the people who got a to study for a Bachelors degree in law and politics in the United Kingdom.
She told the Express she had to go through "a rigorous screening process" and said she was under the impression that the scholarship was public knowledge.
She said the money paid for tuition and was paid directly to the university, noting that she didn't receive any of it personally.
The senator told the Express she didn't think grant amounted to political discrimination.
"I don’t believe that it was specifically to party people at all. When I went to the interview, I did not know any person there," she said.
Paige De Leon, who is the communications manager with the Office of the Prime Minister, received $173,640 to pay for a Masters degree in International Diplomacy in 2005.
The list handed to ITEC shows that although the scholarships were awarded by the culture ministry they were not for studies in the cultural field. Thed two mentioned above were were studies unrelated to culture but there were other similar instances.
Some of the other areas of study included:
- Law
- Dentistry
- Sports management
- Oceanography
- Computer studies
- Pilot training
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