SEVERAL areas around the University of Guyana (UG) campus received a facelift on Sunday with the help of 10 students on a mission to enhance their environment, while highlighting the importance of local government.

The enhancement works by the second-year students are part of their Diploma in Public Management Programme and was assigned to them by their Professor Donna McKinnon.
As part of the works completed, the students painted bridges, re-painted pedestrian crossings and speed humps, labelled school lecture rooms, planted plants and painted the upcycled tyres placed around them.

One of the students, Rawle Jadunath, said the upgrade will promote safety among vehicle and road users, while the labelling will help students to easily identify classrooms.
In addition, he said the act of planting is a means for the group to keep abreast with the country’s ‘green’ initiative and encouraged other Guyanese to do the same.

On the topic of local government, Jadunath said the body plays a major role in communities and can be depended upon to address many issues while encouraging societal interactions.

“Local government is everyone’s business, because in the long run it benefits you, the individual, and also the community in which one lives…by having street lights, maintaining roads, keeping drains clean, [creating] playgrounds and youth clubs,” he said.
The money being used to complete the projects comes from the pockets of the students, who wanted to prove that such acts can be undertaken without a massive fund-raising activity.

This coming weekend, the group will continue their beautification efforts after which they intend to hand out flyers and create sensitisation videos on the need for more to be involved in local government.