Several weeks after the end of the prolonged industrial action at the University of Guyana (UG), both faculty members and students have expressed dissatisfaction with the administration’s efforts to meet their non-wage demands.
On the 3rd of February of this year, the University of Guyana students joined the academic and non-academic staff in protesting the conditions at the University. At this time, they added their own list of demands to those being requested by the staff.
The compiled list features 18 issues of concern, including demands for the provision of learning resource materials, the implementation of rehabilitation works so as to afford proper learning, living facilities for students as well as provision of more efficient and better trained ancillary staff.
When Stabroek News visited the campus yesterday, there was evidence of an attempt by the administration to address some of the concerns but students and staff both say it is not enough.
“They have painted the walls but there are few working microscopes in the biology labs. When I present my certificate, no one is going to want to know the colour of the UG washroom wall; they will want to know if I have the skill in my area of study and I can only get that if I am able to practice with proper equipment,” a student said.
One lecturer told of how difficult it was to sometimes get teaching material even after the strike. The printers were not working and there was no available paper, the lecturer noted.
Students showed reporters the stray dogs who still frequent the campus and spoke of furniture which they described as “fragile.”
Joshua Griffith, President of the University of Guyana Students Society, spoke of the attempts by the administration to address some of the issues. “The tendering process has begun for the rehabilitation of the Dennis Irvine and NBS Halls of Residence for example but the Learning Resource Committee and Registry Committee are still to meet to address several of the issues on the list,” he said. “Efforts are being made” he stressed, while lamenting that “they are just not timely.”
