Displaced university students have an ally in the University of Independence Square.
Coordinators and social activists David Comissiong and David Denny publicly threw the organisation’s support behind students who cannot continue their education due to financial challenges.
Insisting that access to education in Barbados was a fundamental civil and human right, and that the Government should never have taken the decision to “abandon” free education to the youth of the country, Comissiong said his organisation would fight the case of any students from the University of the West Indies (UWI) who could not complete their studies because of the recent imposition of tuition fees.
Even though Comissiong said they were aware of the programmes in place where students could access funding to cover the 20 per cent of the cost that was being asked, he said they had a “fear” that even with the option of a payment plan, bursary or Student Revolving Loan, there was still a large number of students who would not be able to afford to make the payment.
“We want . . . to offer the services of the University of Independence Square to represent any unfortunate Barbadian student who should be sitting in a classroom at UWI, but are not sitting in that classroom for no other reason than because of poverty, they are unable to pay the tuition fee. We are making ourselves available to take up their case and to represent them,” he said at a Press conference at the Clement Payne Centre yesterday. (YB)
Please read the full story in today’s DAILY NATION, or in the eNATION edition.
