Deon P Green, Gleaner Writer

LONDON, England:

Some university students who have borrowed money from the Students' Loan Bureau (SLB) will see a portion of their fees written off by the Government at the start of the next financial year.

The disclosure was made by Prime Minister Bruce Golding during his first official tour to the United Kingdom this week.

Details being worked out

Golding told Jamaicans in the United Kingdom that "details of the arrangement are being worked on. Money will not be a problem as the arrangements are being worked out with the Students' Loan Bureau and the Ministry of Finance".

When The Gleaner checked with the SLB on Thursday, no one was able to give further information on the prime minister's announcement.

Golding said that persons such as nurses, doctors and those in other areas, were to benefit under new arrangements with the SLB.

"There are skills that we need that are short and we are going to have to find some special inducement, special incentives, to build on those shortages and therefore, we are going to work out a deal where persons who are prepared to work for the Government in some of these rural postings and some of these scarce areas for a prescribed period of time, we will discount the loan that they have to pay back and write off a portion for those giving service to the country in these particular areas," the prime minister said.

The prime minister returns to the island tomorrow, having met with British Prime Minister Gordon Brown and Jamaican community groups across the United Kingdom.