We need more time
published: Friday | October 8, 2004

THE EDITOR, Sir:

I AM currently a student at the University of the West Indies and it is with great disgust that I write this letter. There is now a system where students are being deregistered from courses because of their inability to pay fees. Well, Sir, it is not only the students that are delinquent but the school itself has caught the disease. The main library due to Hurricane Ivan has not been able to rent necessary books because they are wet. It was even said that these books won't be ready until January 2005. Adding insult to injury, classes were interrupted for a week and students are still expected to do the same amount of work within the same time period.

Sir, what the university seems not to understand is that Jamaica has just gone through a hurricane that has left a lot of suffering victims and families. Individuals had to spend more than normal to prepare for the hurricane and still even after the hurricane are still spending. It is not that we as students don't intend to pay our school fees but we need more time.

Education should not be seen in dollars and cents but as a necessity. It should be viewed by the government as an asset that everyone should have in order to keep up with globalisation and have a productive economy.

I am, etc.,

TANASHA BUCHANAN