Evan Persaud suspended

Oct 16, 2009 News

…until Special Committee finishes work

A University of Guyana (UG) lecturer, under fire for allegedly hosting an unauthorized test off-campus and for using foul language in classes, has been suspended until a Special Committee can conclude its work.
This was one of the decisions that came out of a UG Council special meeting Wednesday evening at the Turkeyen campus.
A well-placed source yesterday also confirmed that a decision has also been made on the composition of the Special Committee whose work is to start shortly.
It is unclear how long the Special Committee will take to complete its work UG Registrar, Vincent Alexander, is unable to comment since he is out of the country and Pro-Chancellor, Prem Misir, has declined comment.
According to the source, the Council took into consideration that a student had complained of threats but there was no police report on the matter presented to the Council.
Evan Persaud, a Faculty of Technology lecturer for over 12 years, faced a Panel of Inquiry recently after complaints was launched over his teaching style.
Last week, one of his students reported to police that Persaud, while at UG, threatened to shoot him.
The student has since made a report to the Turkeyen Police Station and a statement has been submitted.
Persaud, who received a letter terminating his services two weeks ago after a probe, has not been allowed to lecture since UG re-opened earlier last week.
Dean of the Faculty, Sherwood Lowe, has reportedly assumed his classes in the interim, reports said.
The lecturer had two weeks to appeal with that period coming to an end Friday. Sources had confirmed that an appeal has been handed in by Persaud.
Following several verbal reports and letters by students earlier this year, UG’s Registrar, Vincent Alexander, had appointed a two-member Panel of Inquiry who after investigations prepared a report that alleged Persaud victimized and threatened students and even held an exam off-campus.
Nearly two dozen students, the lecturer and Dean of the Faculty of Technology, Sherwood Lowe, were interviewed before the report was prepared and handed to the UG Council where the decision to terminate him was made.
According to the report, the panel listened to a CD recording of the lecturer during one of his classes in which he was heard cursing and planning to victimize a student who had reported his behaviour to the UG management.
The panel found Persaud guilty of grave misconduct for using profanity in the classroom and in addition, of violating the rights of students by writing directly to Prometheus Resources, a company which sponsors a few students, to terminate their scholarships.
These students were said to be the same ones who reported his misconduct to UG administration, the report says. UG administrators are saying that Persaud bypassed procedures by writing directly to the company.
It was also found that the lecturer acted “in a matter which can be considered inimical to the university’ by holding final exams off campus, “which would affect the quality of the degree offered by the university.”
In its recommendations, the panel called for the termination of Persaud’s contract of employment because he had violated the University Statutes and Code of Conduct for Staff which urges staffers to be aware of their responsibilities and discharge them efficiently and conscientiously.
Eighteen students disclosed that they had done at least one exam at the Russian Embassy, Kitty. However, three students of the 21 said they took part in that and exams were held on campus.
The 18 students said that they had done “fake” final exams on campus but were told by the same three students who had denied writing the exams off-campus that they would meet at another location to “make modifications to their examinations papers.”
According to the report, students said that for this off-campus test, they were given examination questions in advance.
Pro-Chancellor of UG, Dr Prem Misir had denied that it had fired a lecturer saying that due process has not been completed as yet.
Persaud may more than likely now face a Special Committee and appeal the recommendations of a Panel of Inquiry.
Dr Misir had said that Persaud, like any other staff member, deserves due process and that this is the next stage of the hearing.