FOLLOWING protest action by students of the University of Guyana, President David Granger has agreed to meet next week with the President and a few members of the University of Guyana Students Society (UGSS).The announcement was made yesterday by the Ministry of the Presidency, by way of a brief statement saying that the logistics of the proposed meeting are currently being worked out between the Ministry of the Presidency and the UGSS.

According to the statement, the purpose of the engagement is to discuss the issues raised by students of the Turkeyen Campus over the past week.

The Guyana Chronicle had reported that students on Monday picketed the administration of the Turkeyen Campus over a number of issues affecting them, including the university’s silence regarding the alleged non-accounting for a sum of $148M. Led by UGSS President Joshua Griffith, the students gathered in front of the Administrative Office at about 10:00hrs and protested the issues openly.

Griffith disclosed that the UGSS has invited President Granger to meet with it as a body at Turkeyen.

He also noted that since the May 2015 change of government, a number of promises that were made to improve the conditions at UG have not been fulfilled.

Griffith said students from each faculty were demonstrating their lack of confidence in the administration of UG. The main issues of contention include the lack of grades, laboratory facilities for health science students, non-functioning air conditioning units, accreditation matters faced by medical students, and the absence of laboratory exercises for Chemistry students.

He said the Education Faculty students are currently experiencing a host of problems relating to timetables, since many of them are unable to obtain releases from their employers to attend classes during the day.

In addition, he noted, students from the School of Earth and Environmental Sciences (SEES) are in dire straits, as their classrooms have been transformed into offices.

He also noted that there is the issue of the noise generated by the playing of dominoes on campus near to classrooms. He said this problem has occurred because the administration has converted recreational areas for such games into classrooms without consulting the students.

Griffith said one of the more important issues of the protest is the UG administration’s lack of accountability, in that students are not satisfied that the money derived from fees is being spent properly.