THE University of Guyana (UG), on Tuesday, announced that it would continue to work online for the first semester of the new academic year.
The university in a letter dated January 13, 2021, advised students that the institution will be monitoring the COVID-19 situation and will provide any updated information if the decision is finalised to return to face-to-face operation.
Additionally, students are advised to stay tuned into the university’s communications channels for updates.
The university is projecting a tentative June 2021 return to its physical campuses.

This is according to the UG Annual Report 2019/2020, which was released on Tuesday. The report noted that, in the meantime, the university is in the process of creating 15 rooms to host Zoom meetings, and these are expected to be completed by the end of this month.
“The new Office of the Occupational Health and Safety (OOHAS) has created several protocols and training, and is managing the gradual re-opening of the university in accordance with assessments and GoG [Government of Guyana] ordinances,” the report said.
The report explained that, in the interim, the campuses have not been abandoned and “small teams of essential staff are continuously ensuring security, cleanliness, fumigation and maintenance of labs and centres that are running sensitive and continuous processes”.
The 2020/2021 Semester One which already started will end in February 2021, while Semester 2 will run from March – July 2021, and graduation for the 2020 graduating class is scheduled for March 2021.

The report said that all matters for the graduating students “are to be prioritised to enable their graduation”.
“Letter of completion or transcripts, in the first instance, are to be supplied gratis till graduation,” the report noted.
In the report, the Vice-Chancellor (VC), Dr. Paloma Mohamed Martin, gave a “Special Summary Report” on “UG’s Institutional Response to the New COVID-19” which covered actions taken during the period March 11 – November 30, 2020, to deal with the effects of COVID-19.
The first case of COVID-19 was recorded in Guyana on March 11, and learning institutions were ordered close by law from March 16. That law was not lifted until November 2020.
The Vice-Chancellor emphasised that notwithstanding learning institutions having been required to close, and challenges faced in light of this, UG never ceased for a day.