Continuous mistreatment of students and staff at the Guyana School of Agriculture

Sep 17, 2018 Letters

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Dear Editor,
I had held back my pen for quite a while now expecting changes to occur but oh my goodness!
Maybe I was expecting too much with the same Management in place. These guys apparently don’t realize that with all the technology available you have to be extremely careful otherwise conversations and other things be placed on social media or some media.
Let’s get to this, there is severe favoritism at the Guyana School of Agriculture which also results in some students being victimized. I would just elucidate a few of the issues and you’ll decide.
Several students have been reported to be involved in the use of Marijuana. Some were caught with the substance while some admitted using it. Others were recorded and sent to the Director of Administration. The cases were all investigated and the students were all found wanting. The result was that a few of the students were expelled while others were allowed to continue their course.
My question to this Mr. Editor is, “Why were some expelled while others were not when the investigation revealed that they were all culpable?”
In the crew that were not expelled there is a guy that disappointingly is the son of a senior Veterinarian. This senior Veterinarian I understand had to beg the Director not to go to jail when an investigation was done and found him to be wanting based on the information that Mr. Paul John had put forth in his letters.
So, these guys were not expelled so as to do a favor to the senior Vet’s son who spent three years at the institution to do a two-year course and can’t graduate as yet even though he was given so many chances through several re -sit exams.
The other persons that were expelled were children of poor parents. Some were sponsored by PSM. Not to say they should not be disciplined. My argument is that what goes for one must go for all. The rule should be clear and it should be applied across the board. The other sad part about that is that all of the persons identified were repeat offenders so there was no chance of saying this is first offence for one set and the next time they will be expelled.
Internet issues
Mr. Editor, could these guys in management be real? Students have so many assignments to do that requires research on the internet and the internet provided is dead slow plus they have to compete with over a hundred and seventy others, all at once. Why don’t these guys use some of the money the students pay so they can set up blaze high speed instead of waiting on free E-Governance and still using DSL in some places?
Cafeteria and food issues
There is need for improvement in the behaviour of staff. Some are still cursing around students and speaking ‘any how’ to them. While all this is said, I, as a former student that is well informed, know that the Cafeteria has no one directly in charge of them. They have no supervisor or manager; no one to give proper guidance. No menu is up. Nothing to show anything about balanced diet and what students should be taking.
Someone said the Director prefers one person over the other for the position of supervisor even though there is someone senior to her. This has been causing much frustration and the persons in charge of the shifts seems to be taking it out on the staff and it obviously spills over to the students.
General treatment issue
Mr. Editor, it is my firm belief that young adults should be treated not like little children. While some are still immature and need guidance there are others who have been maintaining level heads. Guidance is what young people need, not policing.
How about trying to teach the students about moral and sex education rather than being suspicious of them.
Students have to put up with that, the invention of new rules by a few and all sorts of other things. There is a feeling that it’s a jail. You are being told when to go and study and the list continues. In my opinion this exerts a lot of unnecessary pressure on persons and it makes it difficult for them to perform optimally.
As a former student I can safely say if the current Management remains in place it will be hell for new students since all that takes place is micro management. The rubberstamp CEO and his Director of Administration should get a special course on Management.
The CEO/ Facilitator and the Director of Administration are constantly looking into students having relationship and they have several watchdogs feeding them with information. These people already have so much work to do during the day now they are put in a position to see who trying to copulate and make babies.
All of that is going on and Allen and Greenidge failing to look at student’s welfare. We had no proper beds, we had no proper internet service until lately. Efforts are now being made.
One computer in the library that the almost two hundred students have to compete for. One functional printer in the registry, none in the library. Majority of the books in the library are dated. In fact, many are there since relatives of mine were there over thirty years ago.
We have had to deal with so much water problems. NAREI’s well break down and we get problems with water to bathe. I don’t know why they don’t consult the Government regarding setting up a well since it’s a Government agency and has need for a lot of water on a continuous basis. The well will solve the problem they are getting with water especially in the dry season.
Mr. Editor, I would want to suggest that the authorities pay attention to these things so that the students that graduate from the Guyana School of Agriculture come out as students that are informed and also have some practical experience with up to date techniques in Agriculture instead of the primitive or almost primitive methods that were being thought to us.
Most of us when we leave the institution all we know to do is fetch stuff, water plants, shovel feces. One credit, we are taught how to drive tractor but a few get to operate the tractor with implement.
It would be remiss of me not to mention that these improvements cannot occur with the current management. I just have to be frank; the current Management lacks vision. It seems as the only thing they see is which next student to suspend or expel or which staff to fire.
The staff has no representative, the students have no representative, what is the Guyana School of Agriculture turning to?
Why is the Granger administration not investigating? Yes they can’t do witch hunting but please, after all the letters and no response one does not have to go to school to recognize that something is wrong and needs fixing.
Amanda B.

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