Students of the University of The Gambia on Monday staged a demonstration in protest over dire conditions including transportation woes and their general welfare.
Hundreds of university demonstrators gathered at their campus in Kanifing outside Banjul to vent their frustration over the lack of transport which has rendered attending lectures a daunting challenge.
”Truck is my only option” said of the placards wielded by one of the protesters who complained that it sometimes takes more than four hours to reach their main school campus in Faraba Banta, 56 km away from the Gambian capital.
There are usually long queues of students waiting for bus services that they described as ”notoriously unreliable”.
Six weeks into the first semester, students complained that they have been missing classes and crucial tests because of poor bus services, leaving hundreds of them stranded in the campus every week.
Others complained about the lack of proper food, and the lack of laboratories for those offering science and studious for students of journalism.
According to the students these shortfalls rest squarely with the national authorities especially officials of the ministry of higher education who had promised better campus conditions for the new academic year.
”These problems are avoidable if only the authorities give student welfare greater attention” said one student leader who read out a list of demands to address their plight amid thunderous applause from the protesters.
Dr Ismaila Ceesay, a former university lecturer who is currently the minister of information was booed and literally chased away by the protesters as tensions boiled over.
Other officials who were not far from the protest also received some an earful from the demonstrators who shouted ”shame on you” repeatedly in their direction.
The minister of higher education Professor Pierre Gomez who received the protest demands, promised to look into student complaints with a view to addressing them within the shortest possible time.
WN/as/APA