Dear Editor,
Reference is made to your reports “Former Best Student Boycotts Tain Graduation – after Exams Division mix up” (Sunday Stabroek, December 16, 2007), and “Become critical thinkers, Tain top student tells peers” (Tues. Dec. 18), and a letter “The mix-up over the best student at Tain Campus gives a bad image” by Clive Williams (Tues. Dec. 18).
I am writing because there is great difficulty with the reference in the first report to a “former best student” and the claim that “Ronley Kendall had been told by the administration that he was the best graduating student at the campus.
However, almost two weeks later, he was told that there had been a grade change for his runner up Imran Ally, which placed Ally ahead of him”. This report, through its inaccuracy, is very seriously misleading.
At no time, whether officially or unofficially, was Mr Kendall declared the best graduating student at UGBC by the University administration, nor was Mr Ally at any time declared as the “runner up”. You refer to announcements being made more than three weeks ago, but the university’s official Schol-arships Committee did not meet to consider the nominations and to approve prize winners at the Berbice camp-us until Friday, December 14. It was only at that meeting when the officially approved profiles of the students were put before it that that Committee decided upon all the Prizes and Awards for the Campus.
At that meeting there was no dispute or controversy over who was the best graduate; it was obvious that Mr Imran Ally had the highest Grade Point Average and was therefore the winner.
There is also difficulty with your report that “a mistake on the part of the Examinations Division” was responsible for the wrong information being given to Mr Kendall. This is not the case, and the Examinations Divi-sion cannot be held responsible for mis-information communicated prematurely without official authority and without any check for accuracy,
You attribute the information given to Mr Kendall to the Director of the Berbice Campus, Dr Parsram Thakur. However, there are serious problems with Dr Thakur’s announcement. He failed to attend any of the eight meetings of the Academic Board as a Final Board of Examiners and any of the two meetings of the Scholarships Commit-tee, despite reports from Berbice that he had left the campus to do so. He was therefore not present when the student profiles from his campus were placed before the board. Furthermore, Awards and prizes are not determined by the Academic Board, but by the Scholarships Commit-tee.
Also, in spite of invitations sent, there were no representatives from the Berbice Campus at these meetings. It was only on the insistence of the Vice-Chancellor, that a Campus representative attended the Scholarships Committee meeting on December 14.
The Director was therefore in no position to announce any prize winners or to “officially confirm” anyone as having won a prize. Neither was his declaration to Mr Kendall more than three weeks ago “in accordance with university policy” as you report, since the Scholarships Committee had not yet met. Dr Thakur acted precipitously without authority, and the policy is that only the Scholarships Committee can make that decision.
The university sympathises with Mr Kendall who was so grievously misled.
However, I write this because I have responsibility for the Faculty and the Division at UGBC from which the top student emerg-ed. I am also a member of all the Committees and am fully acquainted with the deliberations at those meetings leading up to the award. Your news reports and the letter contain very serious misinformation and should be corrected with the same prominence as the item on December 16.
Yours faithfully,
Al Creighton