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Counsellors needed to help UG students with “mental” frustration – UGSS President
There are stages in life that persons can feel that they are under tremendous pressure. This can especially be true for students during university life, according to President of the University of Guyana Students’ Society (UGSS), Joshua
UGSS President,
Joshua Griffith
Griffith. “Students at this point of their lives can come under a lot of pressure; they have a lot of responsibilities and have to make a lot of choices…Sometimes they need someone to talk to and someone to counsel and to guide them,” Griffith observed during an interview with this publication.
He reflected on a time when the University of Guyana (UG) had a Counsellor who catered to such needs. But the availability of a Counsellor at the tertiary institution is currently non-existence. “I have heard many calls at various administrative meetings to have a Counsellor reinstated. However, this is not taking place,” lamented Griffith.
According to him, the resulting situation is that students have been opting to turn to lecturers and even the Students’ Society for counselling. “Sometimes I do counselling…they (students) also go to the various religious societies and they get access to counselling there too and that alleviates the problem a bit, but the University definitely needs to consider seriously the mental frustration, the psychological issues that students face and provide a service to assist in that regard. That is a basic service that the University should provide,” asserted Griffith.
As such he noted that the need for a University counsellor cannot be emphasized enough thus “we call on the University of Guyana Administration to ensure a minimum of two counsellors are hired for both the Turkeyen campus and Berbice Campus.”
The issue of mental health is one that has been gaining increasing attention of recent in multiple sectors. Among the 7,000 odd student population at the University there many manifesting mental health related problems, Griffith disclosed.
But according to him, while this mental health issue is one of grave concern there are numerous others that are yet affecting the UG student population. He pointed out that “as Student President I have been in touch with the experiences and feelings of the students of the University of Guyana at both its campuses. My every action has been in solidarity with students as we seek to have a good quality education,” Griffith asserted.
He disclosed that the UG Administration has reneged on many of its promises to the UGSS over the years and by extension the students of the University that “we are now very wary of any promises made and we now prefer commitments in writing followed up by speedy action.”
He added too that “it is sad when students are treated as invisible, and nobody wants to listen to students in a meaningful way. This then force students to express themselves in alternative ways,” he observed.
“I have even observed a practice of manipulation by central administration into the affairs of committees. As such committees have been disemboweled and have become like a dentist’s nightmare – toothless, a mere formal gathering of academics for the sake of discussion,” added Griffith.
Furthermore, he noted that the University must take seriously the matter of continuity within its organizational structure, as too often when absence or leave is taken by its members a void is created which significantly hinders progress.
“Education means a lot to the average Guyanese, some whom may be the first in their families to qualify,” asserted Griffith even as he turned his attention to the role of Government in helping to improve every aspect of the delivery of education. “If the Government does not focus on education, it means they are not serious about the future,” stressed the UGSS President.
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