I refer to M Abraham’s letter captioned “Many hinterland students were unhappy with their guardians” (08-03-09). First of all Mr Abraham stated that most hinterland students would prefer to live in a dormitory than in a home with guardians who are strangers. The students are usually from different regions, most of them seeing each other for the very first time. They are virtually strangers, the house parents for the new dormitory would all be strangers to any new batch of students. Why should hinterland scholarship students stick to their original lifestyle? The majority of students do not return to their original lifestyle after completing their education, and I am quite certain Abraham knows all about this and so it is necessary for them to learn about other people’s way of life so that they would integrate themselves into our society.
As a hinterland scholarship student, I never saw myself as an Amerindian or a person different from any other person. I saw myself as a proud Guyanese seeking an education to better my life.
I earned my scholarship in 1977 and at that time many students had already graduated and were pursuing studies in medicine in Cuba and some were training to become pilots. Many former students became nurses, teachers, clerks in ministries, members of parliament, agriculturists among other professions and they all stayed with guardians in Georgetown and before I forget, some of them became reporters and radio announcers. On the question of extra curricular activities, it is not true to say that students did not enjoy extra curricular activities. Maybe there were none in his time, but in the 1970s and the 1980s we the scholarship students had formed ourselves into the Interior Students Club. I served as Vice- President and Organising Secretary of the club. The meeting room at the hostel on Princes Street served as our clubhouse. This room was equipped with a table tennis table, in the courtyard we had a volleyball court and every afternoon students would gather to play games. We had dominoes, chess, checkers and other indoor games. We would sometimes go on camping tours and hitchhiking. Every year we would have a day of sports and there were times when we invited other youth groups to join us.
Culturally we were on top. We participated in national concerts, and we sometimes had our own concerts. All these activities went on while the students were living with guardians.
Mr Editor, the hinterland scholarship programme had and still has social workers, who work in the Welfare Department and are tasked with the responsibility to look after the welfare of the students. These officers would visit every home where a student resides to look into their welfare. The students always had access to the welfare officers, with whom they would share their problems. The officers would then investigate any matter that may be affecting the students and if there is a need to remove that child, the officers would do so. Before a guardian is chosen he or she would have to go through a screening process.
I am in no way saying all guardians are angels but it is unfair to generalise the whole issue. There were, and I am sure there are, guardians who would have gone out of their way for the students under their care.
I know that the dormitory will be built, but I also know that dorm life is no piece of cake.
Yours faithfully,
Clive Fredericks
