A progress report on the Turkeyen campus must be given to the public

Sep 18, 2008 Letters

DEAR EDITOR,
Unfortunately, it seems as if the students of the University of Guyana have been detrimentally forgotten and it is absolutely appalling that no one has seen the need to raise any such concern about this information deficiency.

With the exception of brief, indefinite and rather sketchy updates about the hopeful reopening of the Turkeyen Campus on the University’s website and in the Press outlining the arrangements for the asbestos removal, students have been left to wonder and worry about their so valuable future at the University.

Though there have been certain plans established to accommodate summer classes and certain administrative operations, the students and the public in general have been starved of vital information. When will the Turkeyen Campus reopen?

What are the registration procedures for both categories of students – continuing and prospective? What will be the strategy to deal with all the time lost for the students thus far?

Last but definitely not least, what is the progress, if any, as it relates to the asbestos removal and how is the safety of the students going to be absolutely guaranteed?

Asbestos, as we all know, is highly toxic and this step should have been taken decades ago. However, are we supposed to assume that the relevant authorities have done sufficient consultations on the best practices as it relates to asbestos removal?

It takes years and dependent on the volume of asbestos (which in the University’s case is a staggering 15 buildings) to be removed, the process of asbestos elimination could surpass a decade.

What is even more shocking is that the cost attached to this process is tremendously overwhelming and we all know the situation with the suffocation of funds from our already deprived campus.

From research done, it is stated that it actually costs less to demolish a building than rid it of asbestos fibres.

In addition to this fact, the company undertaking the removal project should be a registered asbestos removal entity adhering to the strictest of policies and regulations, leaving no stone unturned in the asbestos abatement.

Nonetheless, there are some questions that must be answered and the time to do so has gone. When is our campus reopening and what plans have been made or are intended for the students of the campus? The students deserve to know, we should not be left to wonder about our future.

Time is definitely not on anyone’s side and some sort of update should be forthcoming and a progress report on the campus’s situation must be given to the public.

The only thing that is definite to the many students and staff is that no one will be going on the campus unless some concrete assurance is given on the safety of the campus.

In conclusion I stand firm, along with many others who have insisted, that tests be done at the campus.
The great need for this test was highlighted when members of the testing team had to evacuate the campus after finding the highly carcinogenic asbestos on the floor!

Now, if this campus was deemed fit to occupy by the asbestos removal company and this point underscored by the Minister himself (who was even questioning a test in the first place), how can students and staff feel safe or even remotely comfortable after this latest incident?

I find it very hard to believe, however, that it is even possible for the 15 buildings on our campus to be rid of the carcinogenic material in such a short time in the first place.

Moreover, air quality tests are an indispensable and inextricable part of the removal process. If these are not done the process is critically incomplete.

I hope that the relevant authorities see the dire need to have more than one or two air quality tests executed after, of course, when the first team deems it fit to even carry out the initial test.

Moreover, it is obvious that the campus’s commencement hangs in the very dubious balance; however, it is an intrinsic obligation of the Ministry and the University’s administration to update the thousands of worrying students, not to mention the hundreds of staff.
Richard De Nobrega

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A progress report on the Turkeyen campus must be given to the public

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