With chants of “education, no inflation”, “strike the hike” and “no five per cent, get it from the Government”, a group of University of Guyana students on Monday gathered at the corner of UG Road and the Railway Embankment, Greater Georgetown where they stated that the extra fees were not being used to improve the University’s standards. The protesters stated that their basic needs were not being met, and noted that the fee increase was unjustified especially given the manner in which it was announced.
UG students protest on Monday over the increase in tuition
Final-year International Relations student Elsie Harry explained that since students were sent their acceptance letters and invoices and did not contest such, any other amendments to the agreement were unjust.
“Some people went further in paying their tuition fees; now in the middle of the semester when that [was] done and dusted, you come and say ‘oh wait, by the way, there’s a five per cent increase, we’ll amend your tuition fee’, that’s unethical,” Harry noted.
The frustrated student further expressed that the University should “lead by example”, adding that the commitments made to students should be honoured.
These sentiments were echoed by a male student who also joined the protest line.
“Five weeks into the semester and UG suddenly comes out of the blue and says you have to pay them five per cent more; that just couldn’t be right,” he stated.
Meanwhile, past student Cynthia Rutherford who said that she was standing in solidarity with the current students pointed out that students deserved better facilities before fees were raised.
“It’s a disgrace that UG would want to raise the student fee by five per cent when every year the cry remains the same – deplorable classrooms, inadequate seating and the list goes on,” she noted.
The students claimed that they were willing to go the distance in advocating their causes, pointing out they would not be paying any increased fees. This call was echoed by final-year Communication Studies student Roshini Taychandra.
“When you have a system where students are already struggling to pay the increase hoping that they will get better facilities and learning conditions; nothing has been done. This is my fourth year and then you open your email [and on social media] that there’s an increase, again…so we’re gonna go as far as we need to because we are not going to pay this; we are not going to succumb to that,” Taychandra declared.
It was on Friday that the University of Guyana announced that it increased tuition fees for the academic year 2016/2017 by some five per cent, meaning that fees would increase from $160,000 to $168,000. It was also stated that in the next academic year 2017/2018, fees would again be increased by five per cent.
Responding to the students’ outcry over receiving the notice via email, the University’s Registrar, Dr Nigel Gravesande stated late last week that the decision on hikes was made by the Council in 2014, but was never applied to the academic year 2015/2016.
The increase in tuition fees follows the University’s announcement of a $10,000 graduation fee for students who will be attending the ceremony. Students not attending the graduation ceremony will be required to pay a fee of $5000. Students are today expected to assemble at the Ministry of the Presidency at 09:00h, as Cabinet meets – they will use this opportunity to air their concerns.
Guyana Times understands that the VC Professor Ivelaw Griffith is prepared to halt the 5 per cent increase in tuition fees and will be making the necessary recommendations.
Meanwhile, it is expected that on Thursday at the Turkeyen Campus, President David Granger will attend a commemorative ceremony around 16:00h. The students plan to, with placards in hand, line both sides of the access roads leading up to the campus, where another group of students will be present at the ceremony in efforts to secure the President’s intervention. The email the students received read: “The University administration informs the University Community that the Finance and General Purposes Committee of the University had approved the increase in tuition fees for 2016/2017 and 2017/2018 academic years.”
The email went on to state that the University regretted any inconvenience caused and advised that all invoices would be amended accordingly. It said the difference without penalty becomes payable on or before November 15, 2016. The facilities fee remains unchanged.
Students had taken to social media protesting the move saying that “enough is enough”. They said that the University continued to hike fees while the institution and its infrastructure remained in a deplorable state.
