UTG Students’ Protest Demand for Labs, Affordable Tuition Fees, Wifi…

Barely two days after the Staff Association of the University of The Gambia announced the resumption of its strike, the wave of discontent has now reached the students of the learning institution. On Friday, the UTG Students’ Union took the learners’ grudges to the streets, asking that the UTG management and lecturers be more serious about their education.

This development occurs as on Tuesday, the Staff Association of the University ordered that “all UTG activities are put on hold, and no office, except the Department of Finance, Internal Audit, and Security, are permitted to work. The association also appealed to all the TAC volunteers, among other visiting lecturers, to stay home in solidarity with the UTG Staff“.

The latest Staff Association beef was the excess of the water drop that triggered the students’ protest action today after they resolved to cancel previous demands regarding missing grades and other hurdles in the smooth running of university courses.

Therefore this Friday, the students asked that the University Management effectively resolve all missing grades of the students and immediately address late submission of grades.

Above all, the students asked for immediate expulsion of all underperforming lecturers in the University “because we need quality, receptive and relevant education,” the UTG students said in a memo shared with the media.

Visibly affected by the crisis as the staff refused to work, the UTG students’ union president Ousman Jassey said learners had endured so much in even more deplorable and debilitating conditions than the staff and management are facing.

He consequently said the students demand the “reduction of tuition fees for university education, strong WiFi/Internet Connectivity across all campuses before lectures begin.” They also want buses for students’ transport, “the renovation of all poor facilities in UTG before lectures begin this semester.” Finally, the students’ call includes “providing laboratories for the medical school and Arts and Sciences, studios for the Journalism Students, libraries in all campuses, especially Brikama campus.”

To avoid deception, the UTG students union demands that the government “constitute a task force committee which MUST include the students that would spearhead the implementation of each of the students’ demands.”