Dear Editor,
The termination of Mr Freddie Kissoon’s contract at UG is raw political victimization. This gives credence to international rankings that question Guyana’s political freedom. The UG Board is comprised of PPP members like Prem Misir, Nirmal Rekha, Gail Teixeira, Bibi Shadick and Indra Chandarpal. This list raises serious doubts in my mind as to whether any of them has the academic and scholarly capacity to make decisions for the nation’s only university. However, that is another matter for another day.
The University of Guyana is facing myriad problems such as dilapidated infrastructure, shortage of funding, limited supply of books, inadequate professors, poor labs for scientific research, limited resources in the engineering faculty, public toilets that stink, etc. Yet this Board decides to fire a lecturer who teaches hundreds of students. Several academic degree programmes – crucial for the nation’s development – have been scrapped since the PPP came to power. Isn’t returning these critical academic programmes a more serious matter? The same UG Board brought back one lecturer, a strong PPP supporter, to teach in spite of his lewd language and cursing in the classroom.
This dismissal is a violation of academic freedom. How could they fire Mr Kissoon when there is no universal standard against which to judge lecturers? What is the research weight for promotion?
What is the teaching weight? What is the weight of services to society? These are the three areas in which scholars are evaluated for promotion in the United States. Typically research is given the highest weight. Does UG have any such criteria for promotion? This must be applied to everyone regardless of political connections. And please do not tell me that books published at self-publishing houses are scholarly output. That would be fine for non-academics and those who write for the popular press. But not for a scholar who teaches at a university.
I strongly condemn this act of political victimization. I call for a reinstatement of Mr Freddie Kissoon as soon as possible. I also call for a clarification of the standards against which faculties must be judged for promotion at the nation’s only university. We cannot continue to have sub-optimal scholars getting promotion and senior administrative positions because of political connections. One side burnt sugar canes back in the days to get at the then government. Today the other side prefers to see UG as a backward place to make the present government look bad. Therefore, I call on President Ramotar to instil fairness, high standards and clarity at UG. Perhaps he should revisit the Cheddi Jagan Report of 1996. President Ramotar does not want to rule a country with a moribund university. Finding oil is not as important as having the human capacity to utilize the oil revenues in the most efficient and fair manner.
I look forward to funny little letters signed with convoluted names attacking me in Guyana Times, Guyana Chronicle and Kaieteur News.
Yours faithfully,
Tarron Khemraj
