-UGSS wants to meet politicians on free education plans

By Lisa Hamilton

STUDENTS of the University of Guyana (UG) are interested in a public discussion with the country’s top politicians on their promise to restore free education to the university and the concerns they (the students) have.

This was disclosed by newly-elected President of the University of Guyana Student Society (UGSS), Jafar Gibbons who sat down on the Guyana Chronicle’s Vantage Point on Monday. Gibbons said that while the students naturally welcome free education, many are concerned about whether this “freeness” will come at the cost of quality teachers and efficient facilities.

FREE AT WHAT COST?
“From the interaction with students, to me, they are divided,” Gibbons said.
“While free education is important, it’s also the quality of the education you’re receiving. Are we going to get free education at the expense of poor lecturers or no lecturers? We’re paying our fees right now and some students will complain like that. Are we going to get free education and we’re still going to the washrooms with no tissues or are we going to pay the university and get access to proper washroom facilities; more sports [activities]. It’s a deep-rooted topic but I would like for it to be free.”

In 1976, under former President Linden Forbes Sampson Burnham, all schools of the government were made free from nursery to university and this was enshrined as a right within the 1980 Constitution. Article 27 of the Constitution states: “Every citizen has the right to free education from nursery to university as well as at non-formal places where opportunities are provided for education and training.”

Burnham reinforced the basis of universal primary and secondary education and moved tertiary education from being the privilege of an élite few to an entitlement for everyone. However, it wasn’t until the 1994-1995 academic year, while the late Dr. Cheddi Jagan was president, that the university introduced a Cost Recovery Programme and free tertiary education ended.
This meant that resident Guyanese students were now required to pay G$127,000 per annum while the fees were higher for non-resident Guyanese and foreign students. The payment of fees was higher for those pursuing studies in Law, Medicine, Nursing and Tourism, where the fees were $300,000, $500,000, $251,000 and $158,000 respectively and these prices have increased over the years.

KEEP YOUR PROMISE
The new UGSS President also wants politicians to know that students have taken their promise very seriously and plan to keep the pressure up until it is delivered. He hopes that the promises made are not simply the tune of the political season but actual plans the next government will put in place for citizens who seek higher education.

“It’s constitutionally mandated that the university be free. I think that those making the promises, we should hold their foot to the fire,” Gibbons said.
“As the elected student representative, definitely, we would love to engage them but understand that it has to take on a serious approach in implementing that aspect of the university. It cannot be a conversation just for publicity or it cannot be a conversation just to say ‘we started the conversation’. It has to be something with direction; it has to be [that] when we finish those discussions and those meetings, students must have access to free education.”

The President said that during the Decade of Development, which will be launched from 2020-2029, he has pledged to enforce the constitutional entitlement of free education from nursery to university. Should the government be re-elected in the 2020 elections, the President said that current students in financial default can expect amnesty. “Now that we have decided to enforce what I would say is free education from nursery to university, we will ensure that new entrants, once they’re qualified, will enjoy the benefits of free education,” the President said on the Vantage Point earlier in October.

On Emancipation Day, he had expounded: “Our expected petroleum revenues, apart from what would be devoted to our Sovereign Wealth Fund, will help us to restore education in accordance with our Constitution. Those resources belong to future generations…we are not making fun with education… there is no better way to spend our petroleum resources than to ensure that Guyana becomes a nation of educated people. Guyana must become the best-educated country in the English-speaking Caribbean.”

People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) Presidential Candidate, Irfaan Ali has also promised to provide free education explaining that the Party would need some two to three years to “work out the details of this policy initiative”.

CAPTIONS SAVED AS: UGSS

UGSS: Newly-elected President of the University of Guyana Student Society (UGSS), Jafar Gibbons