– want lack of food, denial of residency addressed
Students at the Cyril Potter College of Education (CPCE) have complained about shabby treatment at the institution that needs to be addressed urgently and these issues have been raised with the education minister.
Stabroek News was told that some students had lodged complaints about food shortages, an aborted semester and the subsequent incomplete courses and the denial of residency to sophomore students with PNCR MP Vanessa Kissoon, who said: “Fellow MP Cheryl Sampson and I discussed the issues with Minister of Education Shaik Baksh who said that he was not aware of the situations but had promised to look into them.”
When Stabroek News contacted the students they complained bitterly about unjust treatment at the college over the years, the late release of stipends and grades and what they believe to be the ad hoc manner in which some students were denied readmission into the dorms to start their senior year.
On the condition of anonymity, students told this newspaper that classes ended prematurely for the semester on Friday last despite a timetable which had classes scheduled until this month end.
The students said the timetable had been extended to allow the completion of a number of courses which had been delayed owing to the absence of lecturers. “We don’t know for sure why there were no lecturers to carry some courses, if it is that they don’t pay them well or if it was just a lack of commitment on the part of the lecturers, we really don’t know,” a student said.
They also said that in the first year a minimum of classes had been scheduled. “It is not until you get into the second year that things start picking up. You would then have to deal with first and second year’s curriculum in the second year,” a student explained.
Students also claimed that the company that supplied meals stopped doing so on July 3. They said after they alerted them that some students would be residing in the dorms until July month-end, the suppliers informed them that July 3 was the last day they had been contracted to supply food. They told this newspaper that the administration had failed to put systems in place for students who reside in the dorms and as such they “were left entirely on our own with little or nothing to eat.”
The students also said that they immediately alerted the administration about their plight but were ignored, until last Monday when the home economics department was made available to them. Students also said that the situation had led some concerned lecturers to contribute resources and assist them. “Most of us who live in have absolutely no one to turn to. If we needed assistance we would have had to return home and travel every day and that too would not have made economic sense. Some persons didn’t even have the finances to make one trip home and back,” one said.
Stipends and
allowances
Resident student teachers receive a stipend of $5,214 per month and students complained that over the years stipends and allowances have been issued consistently late. “We are not in receipt of the little pittance for June yet. That’s the only earning we have and they are always late with it. We are not robots we are just a group who want an opportunity to mould our nation’s children and they are treating us in this manner,” one resident student said.
Students said they are troubled by the situation, particularly those who would be starting their senior year in September and are expected to focus on their teaching practice and their majors.
“In the third year you are assigned at a school to practice. You would spend three days a week in school and the remaining two days you are back on campus to work on lesson plans, discuss challenges and things like that. It is very difficult do teaching practices and complete courses at the same time, it is very difficult,” a student said.
The students told Stabroek News that each course runs for 45 hours and had they been allowed to work until the end of July they would have been able to cover about 20 hours of lost time. “While we would have never been able to cover the full 45 hours we would have reduced the strain significantly,” one said. Another likened the situation to “trying to fill a bucket with dew during the hot summer time” however, they were willing to try.
“As if that wasn’t enough, they are now throwing out those who are going into their third year,” one student claimed.
“We are speaking out; they can’t fail the entire school. Some persons who are usually very vocal might be targeted but we can’t take it anymore, this thing has to go public,” a student said. Another added that it was unfortunate that students felt that grievances had to be dealt with “under the shades” but that there would be “no questioning that we would be victimized in the worse possible way, our grades would be tampered with and we would have to go through another year of torture and turmoil.”
Residency
According to CPCE procedure student teachers must reapply for residency at the end of each semester. In the past, 95% of applicants had been readmitted; however, this year most of the junior students were denied re-entry to the dorms. They claimed that earlier in the year the principal had implied that it was unlikely that the junior students would have been readmitted for residency but they said this had never been confirmed so they believed that the idea had been abandoned.
Students said they believed that the usual procedures had been implemented but were surprised that many students from far-flung areas such as regions one and ten had been denied residency for their senior year. “We went to the principal on the matter and were told ‘y’all know bout da a long time ago so don’t bother to come and bother me about that right now. The instructions came from the minister and I following orders’,” the students said.
This newspaper understands that only three students from Region Ten had been readmitted; two from Kwakwani and one from Linden. “The student teacher from Linden made it in by the skin of her teeth,” students claimed, adding that that there may have been an element of favouritism in this particular selection as the student “has some responsibilities for some social activities.”
Students said when they asked about the criteria for selection they were given no explanations but they believe that the move was made in order to accommodate a larger number of first-year students from September. One tearful student teacher said this move would mean that all her work during the first two years on campus would have come to naught as she has no relatives in Georgetown and cannot afford to rent an apartment.
The woman said she is the youngest of seven siblings and she was only trying to secure her future by attending CPCE as “All my sisters and brothers had to leave school at an early age to help support our parents and me. My parents were both retrenched from Guymine and were never able to secure a proper job since that time.” The 20-year-old also said her father was severely beaten while working as a security guard and has been unable to work since. The woman said too she and her colleagues were made to endure a number of injustices over the past two years at CPCE but they never expected to be thrown out.
Students claimed that their peers from the hinterland and other interior locations did not face the same injustice. “They don’t mess with them because they know that the minister would be up in their faces.”
Students also expressed concerns about the consistent late release of grades. This newspaper understands that graduation ceremony was postponed to some time in September because grades had not been published.
