Members of the UTG student union at their press conference.
By Landing Ceesay
The Students’ Union of the University of the Gambia has issued an ultimatum to the school’s management, stating that they will not move to the UTG Faraba Bantang Campus unless it is fully equipped and ready for lectures.
“As student leaders, whose sole responsibility is for the protection of the interest and welfare of students, we wish to unequivocally state that we are taking an uncompromising stand on any actions of the authorities that has the potential of disrupting the academic pursuit of students or inconveniencing their welfare.
“Therefore, if the Faraba Bantang Campus lacks the basic necessities that are fundamental to the effective efficient and qualitative production of knowledge, we are not moving an inch. I repeat, if this campus lacks basic necessities that are fundamental to the effective and efficient qualitative production of knowledge, we are not moving an inch until things are in place,” UTG Students’ Union President Mr. Kemo Conteh said.
The University of the Gambia Students’ Union held a press conference on Saturday to discuss the relocation of some schools to the Faraba Bantang Campus. The relocation has been a source of tension for several weeks between the Ministry of Higher Education, Research, Science, and Technology, the UTG Management and Lecturers, and the Students’ Union.
Some lecturers and students have expressed their frustration with the relocation, arguing that the UTG Faraba Bantang Campus is not ready to accommodate them for lectures. However, the Higher Education Minister has stated that there is no turning back for the students.
At a press conference on Saturday, the Students’ Union reiterated that they will not move to the UTG Faraba Campus until it is ready to accommodate them. The Union also made six demands of the authorities, including compensation for lost lectures.
One of their key demands is that the UTG management follow its academic calendar, regardless of the completion date of the Faraba Bantang campus.
“When the University of the Gambia was making its academic calendar, they did not make this academic calendar in tandem with the preparation of Faraba Bantang Campus. The academic calendar was steadily made to reflect the existing spaces we have now. So now if you say you’re waiting for a particular time for a particular thing to be done, before you start your academic calendar, as students we think this is quite unfair to us, and we will not tolerate it,” the Students’ Union President Mr. Kemo Conteh told the media.
Mr. Conteh, announced that registration for all courses for both continuing and new students will begin on Wednesday, September 20, 2023, and lectures will start on all campuses on the same day.
Mr. Conteh warned the UTG Management not to move students to the Faraba Bantang campus until the basic necessities, such as purified water, electricity, internet, furnished toilets, adequate security, labs, and learning materials, are in place.
“These are the basic necessities. Without these, the UTG management must not take an attempt to move students to the Faraba Bantang Campus. Condition six, which is the final condition that university management to compensate the general students for the one-week duration lecture lost.
“We have lost a series of contact hours since on the 11th to now. As continuing students, some of us should be attending our lectures now. What are we waiting for? Can we justify why we are waiting? Can we reflect on why we can start, what are we waiting for? And nobody is willing to even explain anything, what we are waiting for.?” Mr. Conteh asked the management of the UTG for answers.
The construction of the multi-million Dalasi University of the Gambia Faraba Bantang Campus started over a decade ago during the time of former President Yahya Jammeh. The students of the UTG have been promised on numerous occasions that construction would be completed within a given timeline, but none of the given timelines have been met. The recent pronouncement by the Higher Education Minister for the students to relocate this semester did not go well with students and some of the lecturers.