STUDENTS of the University of Guyana (UG) Turkeyen campus suffered a severe loss of laptops, phones and clothing among other items, after thieves vandalised their rooms in the New Building Society (NBS) Hall of Residence dorms just after the Christmas season.

The University’s online news entity, Splash, detailed that students returning from their holiday break were greeted with missing doors to their dorms and discovered that other possessions, such as laptops and phones, among their other belongings, had gone missing. It was obvious that the dorms had been vandalised by thieves.

The University of Guyana was officially closed on December 19 last and is slated to reopen for the second semester on January 26. The students are in jeopardy because the laptops, an ideal tool for delivering academic work, have all been stolen.

This incident has signalled the violation of the University’s security system even though the security unit has, for quite a while, been implementing stringent measures to prevent breakages and burglaries. The publication Splash has said that attempts have been made to get comments from the University’s Security Manager, Mr. Hugh Gibson, but those attempts have proven futile.

Security measures implemented on the campus since last semester consisted of identifying and inspecting those who use either of the university’s entrances. This has been augmented with the addition of 12 security cameras to bolster safety of the students. The campus uses contract security personnel from Massey Security, but this latest incident has caused Gibson to now have the intention to employ an in-house security force to effectively oversee security at both the Turkeyen and Tain campuses.

(Shivanie Sugrim)