By Buba Gagigo
Students at the School of Journalism of the University of The Gambia has on Thursday, December 15, 2022, protested over what they called the lack of Cash-Power at the school.
Jainaba Mbowe, one of the student protestors, who spoke to journalists, said their protest is due to the frequent lack of Cash-Power at the school of Journalism and the ensuing electricity interruptions that entailed.
“The issue started from a cash power issue that was not in the school for a couple of days. Lecturers had to cancel classes because the school is usually dark during the daytime, talk less in the evening. So, obviously lecturers could not call and some of the lecturers had to cancel their classes with no choice,” she said.
Jainaba further stated that it was necessary for them to come out and protest because this was not the first time their classes were canceled due to electricity interruptions relating to cash power.
“We all know that this semester is the shortest semester in the university, and this is something that has been happening. This is not the first time that journalism students will come without a Cash-Power in the school. So, that is why yesterday when it happened, the desire to occupy the peace building, but unfortunately, the Vice Chancellor and the Directorate of student affairs were not around as they are currently out of town,” she explains.
According to Jainaba Mbowe, lack of Cash-Power at the school is not the only problem they have at the school. Saying; they have numerous other problems that are ‘way bigger’ than the Cash-Power issue.
“So that is not the only problem we have in the School of Journalism. That was what triggered the protests, but we also have numerous problems that are way bigger than the Cash-Power issue. And that includes a whole school of journalism been operating for over a decade without a studio and this is something that we have been complaining about year in year out and the excuses we get from the management is that equipment has been purchase, and they’re on the process of building the studio, but still now we have seen no improvements,” she said.
Jainaba and her fellow students at the School of Journalism insist that they cannot continue paying tuition fees without proper services from the school.
“We want to see actions from the management as soon as possible. We cannot be paying tuition fees as university students, which is way more expensive than other journalism schools in the country, and those people have all the equipment they need in their school. Also, we have inadequate lecturers in the faculty, we have lecturers that are lecturing courses that they are not supposed to lecture, and also we have lecturers that feel that their capability cannot be questioned by our students because the school will not take any actions for fear that if they are sacked we will not have lecturers that are going to teach those courses,” Jainaba said on behalf of her colleagues.
Other issues that the Journalism Students complain about are the lack of proper Lab and missing grades.