Stop playing with our education. So says a group of upset students at the University of T&T (UTT) who are calling on the Government to quit "playing around" with their education. Several students, who asked not to be identified, said they were being treated with discourtesy by UTT's administration, as a result of recent firings of professors and lecturers. They said dismissed members of staff had not been replaced and issues plaguing the student body were not being addressed.
Among the group was a former guild president of one of the campuses, who spoke about the lack of respect and the disregard meted out to students. They agreed to be interviewed on the condition that they remained unidentified. Even so, they spoke cautiously, and repeatedly said they were fearful of being victimised.
Executive president of the Student Guild, Laura Lewis, who received the Institution of Chemical Engineers Ambassador's prize in March, for her work to promote and increase the institution's membership among local students, could not be reached for comment. One student said: "Students are being experimented with. We are lab rats and guinea pigs.
"This government is dragging the national university through the mud. "Why not fix the problems instead of making it political?" The student said if the Government highlighted certain discrepancies with the university, then efforts should be made to correct them and get rid of the corrupt elements.
However, it's been close to two years since a new government came into office and another student said: "They have done nothing. In fact, things have worsened." Another student said the outright disrespect by the acting president, Rodney Jagai, was a problem.
Sunday Guardian obtained a copy of an e-mail sent to Jagai in February asking for assistance for year three students in basic utilities because a lecturer for the course, quality control technology, "left without informing any of the students." The lecturer was among those who were axed.
The e-mail stated: "None of the students have been informed of a replacement lecturer as yet, as the semester comes close to an end. "The programme professor (named), the course co-ordinator (named) and the head of administration (named) have not issued any notices or any announcements to the students since the birth of this great problem."
Jagai's response via his Blackberry was "Ok." The group of students was proud of the national university but was against its administration. They said they were fed up of attending classes, only to discover their lecturers were no longer there. They were also against the establishment of a University of the West Indies, Debe campus, and said more should be done to uplift the image of UTT.
They said UTT would soon lose its credibility because some of the terminated lecturers were recognised worldwide and made significant contributions to several departments. They said too much negative news about the university was being bandied about and nobody was paying any attention.
One student said: "We feel as though we are wasting our time going to classes. "Right now we don't even know, if, when we are finished our programmes, the degrees will be recognised. "There is no plan. We are hearing about restructuring but we are not being told what is going on." They also claimed non-nationals were returning home because of the problems.
Another student said while UTT was set up by the People's National Movement, it was not for "PNM people" but for "all." "Remove what you think is corrupt, but let one of our national pride-UTT, function for the people of the country."