UG students call off protest after getting President’s attention
Incoming UGSS President Ron Glasgow
A handful of students, with placards in hand, assembled outside of the Ministry of the Presidency on Wednesday with much vigour to begin their calls for the Government to afford them a meeting to listen to their concerns.
However, the demonstration was immediately called off after the Ministry of the Presidency heeded their request and announced that a meeting will be arranged sometime next week.
According to a statement from the Ministry, President David Granger has agreed to meet with the University of Guyana Student Society (UGSS), however the logistics are currently being worked out so no definite date and time was set.
The purpose of the engagement would be to discuss the welfare and the issues raised by the students over the past week.
The handful of students gathered outside the Ministry of the Presidency to stage the demonstration
UGSS Outgoing President Joshua Griffith explained that on Wednesday morning, he received a call from the Ministry of the Presidency informing him of the possible meeting next week.
Griffith said he is very grateful for the opportunity to finally meet and discuss with the Head of State the many issues affecting students at the country’s premier tertiary institution.
“We formally wrote the President in 2015, then we met at the University’s graduation function where we interacted with him to meet again and he directed us to Ministry of Education, and what we did was we wrote to Minister of Education (Dr Rupert Roopnaraine) and we didn’t get a response so we wrote back to the President and that is how it’s been since,” he explained.
Moving forward, Griffith explained that the plan moving forward now would be to ensure the students are fully prepared for the engagement with the President.
Following Monday morning’s protest, the UGSS also met with the administration of the university but Griffith explained that the engagement yielded little results.
“The administration needed some clarity with regards to the demonstration, they highlighted the need for protocol and all the usual stuff… and the student body wasn’t given a fair chance to air their views as per normal, generally you find when it comes to senior administration setting, students are given a timeframe or are always muzzled, its nothing new to us,” he lamented.
Nonetheless, he posited that the UGSS appreciated the opportunity to meet with the administration.
During the interview with media operatives outside the Ministry of the Presidency on Wednesday, Griffith explained that the course of action thereafter will have to be decided by the incoming UGSS President Ron Glasgow.
Griffith expressed confidence in Glasgow to continue the fight for better conditions and student welfare on campus. Efforts to contact Glasgow for a comment proved futile.
