Students at the Georgetown School of Nursing say its management is dysfunctional and has enrolled a large number of students while no infrastructural provisions have been made for them.
This has been an ongoing problem that the Guyana Public Service Union has complained about.
A crowd of student nurses assembled on Wednesday in the school’s compound were tuned to a speech being delivered by the students’ society vice-president Kempton Alert who was attempting to clarify certain misconceptions among the student body and inform them about the magnitude of the overcrowding problem. Alert said no accommodations have been made for the newly inducted students, who expected to meet an environment conducive to learning.
Several students told Stabroek News that they did not encounter any problems finding accommodation on Monday as the total number of students enrolled did not attend classes. However, several students were forced to stay outside of the classroom on Wednesday as most of them turned out to write their exams. In an address to the media, Alert and president of the students’ society Michelle Lewis said the building which houses the school currently has to accommodate over 500 students, which is impossible. They also said attempts to meet with the authorities at the Ministry of Health on the issue have been futile.
According to Lewis, a letter was sent to the minister informing him about the problem and they would have raised the issue with him during his last visit to the school. However, they were told that the content of the letter may have been misinterpreted and were advised to send another letter. The students’ society said despite numerous visits from ministry officials, nothing substantial has happened, instead, the officials seem to focus on less pertinent issues.
Alert said that there are classrooms for each batch of the nursing professionals; however, the number of students allocated to each classroom is not conducive to learning and is injurious to health. Echoing his statement, Lewis said the health risks overcrowding presents are ignored even though the students are often clustered together and are forced to assemble in the canteen.
Overcrowding is being blamed for a staggering failure rate recently.
