PYO calls for action against UG tuition increase

The Progressive Youth Organisation (PYO), youth arm of the People’s Progressive Party, has expressed distress at the University of Guyana’s recent declaration that tuition fees are going to be increased. UG Vice Chancellor Professor Ivelaw Lloyd Griffith has announced that tuition fees are to be increased by 35 per cent, with a further 14 per cent attached for Value Added Tax (VAT).

The PYO has noted that with the increased fees and additional VAT, tuition at the university will be amplified by almost 50 per cent. The organisation is therefore calling on students and relevant authorities to speak out against this burdensome increase.

The PYO has pointed out, “At a time when we should be creating opportunities for our young people – empowering them and expanding opportunities in the oil and gas industry, and preparing them for the new economy and opportunities, the APNU/AFC Government has announced a most regressive step in the territory education apparatus of our young people. This follows on the heels of previous announcement of VAT charges on education fees.”

The PYO has posited that the proposed increased tuition fees are not only unacceptable, but are a direct attack on young people, and a hindrance to human resource development. The organisation highlighted that creating financial barriers to hinder access of education by young people is an act of defiance against the works of the popular human rights organisation UNESCO. The body has quoted a UNESCO declaration in its outcry, which states “Education is a fundamental human right and (is) essential for the exercise of all other human rights. It promotes individual freedom and empowerment, and yields important development benefits. Yet millions of children and adults remain deprived of educational opportunities, many as a result of poverty.”

The PYO recalled that the APNU/AFC partnership not only opposed, but committed itself in its campaign to a policy that would see no increase in tuition fees at the University of Guyana. This new move has been viewed as a betrayal of young people, and must be opposed by youths across Guyana, the PYO posited. “Students are already taxed with increases in every aspect of living expenditure, including transportation, rental, electricity, water and food,” continued the PYO.

The PYO calls on the University of Guyana administration and the APNU/AFC Government to cancel all efforts to increase the tuition fees at the University, “so that our young people could have an affordable opportunity to improve their qualifications and expertise”. Such opportunities, the PYO believes, will inherently have a positive effect on the development of the economy and country at large.