EDUCATION Minister, Priya Manickchand has declared that the problems faced by the University of Guyana (UG) need to be dealt with more holistically and in a way that is void of any political or social agenda.

She made this declaration Thursday last while addressing members of the media in the boardroom of the National Centre for Educational Resource Development (NCERD), Kingston.
Manickchand stated that the issues which the University faces need to be addressed aggressively so that the institution can be sustained as the kind of university which former president, Dr. Cheddi Jagan envisioned.
She explained that while the easiest way to deal with the financial issues the university is facing would be to give the institution a government bailout, this would not solve the difficulties that caused the university to be indebted in the first place.
Meanwhile, University of Guyana staff had resorted to protest action over the non-payment of their National Insurance Scheme (NIS), Pay-As-You-Earn (PAYE), credit unions, pension, insurance and health schemes contributions by the university administration.
During a press conference last month, the university’s workers union and senior staff association outlined stringent measures which they would be taking to ensure that the problems faced by the university and its staff members are properly addressed by the university administration.

Class action lawsuit
Among these measures was their threat to file a class action lawsuit against UG, if the administration does not outline its plans to rectify the situation with regard to payment of their contributions.
Vice-Chancellor of the University, Professor Jacob Opadeyi had told the Guyana Chronicle last month that the independent special audit which is currently being conducted into the accounts of the institution would be completed by September 2013.
This audit is being done to ascertain the solution to what Pro- Chancellor, Dr. Prem Misir described as the “huge deficit” faced by the University of Guyana.