TWO University of Guyana students recently shared their thoughts on the expansion of the university’s Engineering Programme to the John’s Science Centre in Berbice, noting that offering Civil and Mechanical Engineering courses in Region Six eases the burden of travelling to the Turkeyen campus in Region Four to pursue their studies.
With President, Dr Irfaan Ali’s commitment to continuing the decentralisation of academic opportunities all across Guyana, students candidly spoke about the immense benefits they are expected to reap and the impact it will have on their lives and academic pursuits.
Devashree Dhanai, a first-year Civil Engineering student at the university’s Turkeyen Campus, hails from Cane Field, Canje, Berbice.
The young woman explained that when the first semester began, she was travelling daily. She was unable to afford this and decided to return to dorm accommodation.
“It was hard because like I’ve been with my family ever since I came here, so it was really hard for me to be away from my family. I missed my home-cooked food, and it was lonely at some times, but I had to get used to it just for education purposes,” she said.
“It’s going to be more effective when it comes to my comfort and it’s going to help me. I have an environment that I’m used to here so I’m not going to be like, it’s going strange to me. It’ll help me focus better and there I have a mixed feeling with it because I got used to being at Turkeyen so much that now, it’s kinda heartbreaking. I have to leave there and come here now but it’s for the best for me,” Dhanai added.
Dhanai will be the first in her family to graduate from university and she is committed to make good use of the knowledge and experiences gained at the institution. Further, she hopes to give back to her country and community once she completes the bachelor’s programme.
Meanwhile, Samira Khan, a first-year Mechanical Engineering student from Nigg, Berbice, who is also enrolled at the Turkeyen Campus, similarly shared that travelling from Berbice to classes almost on a daily basis was hard. He recalled having to wake at 04:00hrs to reach on time for a 09:00hrs class.
“Well, it’s definitely saving money in transportation, and we also have face-to-face classes, majority face-to-face classes in the Tain Campus, so it’s much better learning-wise as well,” Khan said.
Khan encourages anyone interested in attending classes at any of UG’s campuses to make that sacrifice to enrol.
According to the young woman, engineering is a great field to be in as it paves a pathway to careers in various fields.
The announcement of the expansion of UG’s Engineering Programme to the John’s Science Centre in Region Six and the Essequibo Technical Institute in Region Two has been described as a strategic move designed to fuel Guyana’s unprecedented infrastructural boom.
The Ministry of Education, at the time of the announcement, had said it is proactively closing the skills gap to ensure that Guyanese are the primary architects of the nation’s future.
Additionally, the MoE said that engineering is not the only programme being decentralised in this first phase. It said Education Minister Sonia Parag is also working actively with Minister of Health Dr Frank Anthony, and the UG team to expand the institution’s medical programmes to the various regions.
