Latest update April 25th, 2024 12:59 AM
Aug 05, 2014 Features / Columnists, Freddie Kissoon
Tribalism, politics and culture have divided this nation since the uniting theme of anti-colonialism disappeared with the split between Jagan and Burnham in the fifties. But how different is our divided polity from other nations?
The great United States has similar ethnic undercurrents (to put it mildly). The UK is now in fear of a separate Scotland. Arab countries have their tribal passions. India is a land of a billion cultures. But there are threads in a nation that knit its people together, one of which is education.
Political divisions, tribalism and other sociological depravities have not undermined the educational systems of these nations. India exports doctors and scientists like mangoes falling from a tree. There are hundreds of top class universities in India that are getting better each day. The UK prides itself on its great universities. Even in the smallest states in the US like Rhode Island, you find phenomenal universities; imagine what obtains then in California, New York, Illinois etc.
There is no sane mind in the world that would be so asinine to deny that the avenue for achieving greatness as a nation is through a vibrant educational system. When you talk about development, when you talk about a country outstripping others, you are talking about that country’s educational assets. China is trying like mad to outrun Harvard by creating dozens of Harvards all over China.
This is one of the threads that unite a divided nation. People want to see large, handsome universities with money, scholars and opportunities. They feel that is what their country must have. Nothing unites the people of Guyana. But if anything should, it should have been the University of Guyana.
We may not like each other in Guyana because we look different. We may not like each other in Guyana because the political party we support, we want it to outdo its rival. But we ought to know that if as individual citizens we are going to survive, then our educational system should be above party and race politics, because our individual future depends on it.
The parents of the African labourer in Georgetown, Amerindian youth in the interior and Indian bus conductor in Port Mourant, ought to know that social elevation can only come from their country having top class tertiary education. Most of all, the entrepreneurial class that invests billions in Guyana cannot be that stupid, self-destructive and ignorant in not knowing how important the country’s only university is.
I was a guest of the African rights organization, Cuffy 250 Committee on channel 9 to speak about tertiary education in this country. I made the point that every Guyanese needs to be suspicious about why UG is declining. I made the point that something cannot be right; that since the PPP came to power twenty-two years ago, each year sees a resource decline at UG. It is indeed eerie and macabre. On each occasion as we enter a new calendar year, UG becomes more decrepit, more disheveled, more wretched, more rundown. That cannot make sense unless a sinister destructive hand is at work.
Surely, if you endure a five-year period of downslide, then you creep back up slowly. But there is no upward movement from UG the past twenty-two years. Each year things get from bad to worse at UG, quality goes down, resources get scarcer and the devouring cancer gets more malignant. And how do I know that? I worked there for twenty-six consecutive years.
There is no moral, cultural, ethnic and political reason for any citizen to support this decline. UG, like many institutions, is above politics because our individual future depends on it. Why support the decline of the army? Countries with border claims will then be bold to invade your country. Why support a moribund police force? Criminals are going to walk into your home, rob and rape family members and walk out freely, because there is no functioning police force. The point is, these national institutions are intricately tied up with your own individual existence.
That the entrepreneurial class, civil society, important stakeholders and the nation as a whole can remain silent on the moribund state of the country’s only university, is huge testimony to the existence of a dead country. What makes it heart-breaking is that the poorest nations on earth have better universities than us.
It is as if there is a deliberate plan to kill off UG. And the people of this land just watch helplessly. There are no words to describe this Kafkaesque nightmare in Guyana. This self-destructive nation does not deserve to be part of the civilized, modern world.
Jagdeo giving Exxon 102 cent to collect 2 cent.
Apr 25, 2024
By Rawle Toney Kaieteur Sports – The French Diplomatic Office in Guyana, in collaboration with the Guyana Olympic Association and UNICEF, hosted an exhibition on Tuesday evening at the...Kaieteur News – Dr. Bharrat Jagdeo, the General Secretary of the People’s Progressive Party, persists in offering... more
By Sir Ronald Sanders Waterfalls Magazine – On April 10, the Permanent Council of the Organization of American States... more
Freedom of speech is our core value at Kaieteur News. If the letter/e-mail you sent was not published, and you believe that its contents were not libellous, let us know, please contact us by phone or email.
Feel free to send us your comments and/or criticisms.
Contact: 624-6456; 225-8452; 225-8458; 225-8463; 225-8465; 225-8473 or 225-8491.
Or by Email: [email protected] / [email protected]