Savitree Budram, the valedictorian of the University of Guyana’s Tain Campus, has urged that more resources be made available to the Berbice campus, including its library, so that its students “do not have to request books from Turkeyen”.
Budram made the call during her address at a convocation ceremony held last Saturday for academic year 2019/2020. The ceremony is one of multiple ceremonies being held for over 2,500 graduating students due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
While she made sure to urge her fellow graduates to make use of opportunities which come their way and offered gratitude to her husband and children without whom she felt she could not have achieved a 4.0 Grade Point Average (GPA), Budram also requested an update to the Tain Library. The recipient of a Bachelors of Education degree, Budram also went on to ask for a Masters of Education programme to be made available at the Berbice Campus.
Currently UG offers four Masters of Education programmes, all of which are administered from Turkeyen. As online learning becomes essential due to the COVID-19 pandemic, it is much more likely that these programmes will become available to students outside of Georgetown and its surrounding areas.
Addressing graduates, Budram urged that they leave behind the challenges and celebrate.
Referencing a quote from media mogul Oprah Winfrey, the 36-year-old noted that the more you celebrate in life, the more there is to celebrate.
A Senior Mistress at Rosignol Secondary, Budram has much to celebrate after she survived a 2016 accident which left her bedridden for months. Once unsure if she would ever stand or walk again, the mother of three, told Stabroek News that she embraced her second chance at life by pursuing her degree.
She also offered thanks to the Guyana Teachers’ Union (GTU) and the Ministry of Education, who funded her education through a joint scholarship.
Meanwhile, Minister of Education Priya Manickchand also addressed the ceremony and urged the graduates to become involved in their community. She delivered a call for transformative action, while urging that those newly conferred with degrees be catalysts for change in the Guyanese society.
The featured speaker, Howard University President Dr. Wayne Frederick, asked the students to embrace truth.
“You are unlikely to be caught in a web of truths as you are in a web of lies,” he observed, while stressing that they must “find the truth and promote it.”
The academic’s presentation seemed to be specifically tailored around the ways in which skepticism of science and scientists have impacted the world’s response to the pandemic.
He stressed that while the current global environment might seem daunting, hope can be found in the African Proverb, “However long the night the dawn will break.”
“Even Science is not an exact science,” he told the graduates of the College of Medical Services within the Faculty of Health Science and the Faculty of Natural Sciences before adding that the science, however, remains necessary and impactful once practiced honestly.
Frederick, who specialises in oncological surgery, shared with the students his observation that communities of colour are often disproportionately affected by disease and urged that they be open to a “wider” career path where medicine and laboratory work might intersect with social issues.
