Dear Editor,
The images of a decaying and visibly neglected President’s College are not only worrying in the sense that educators and students are living and working in such an environment, but also because an obligation exits on the part of the relevant authorities to treat the college properly.
The legitimate concerns raised consistently by educators and students regarding accommodation and services have over the years been deemed unfounded and as exemplifying unruliness, yet what obtains today bears painful testimony to an institution that has been largely ignored.
And I question why? Why has this School of Excellence whose halls I had comfortably walked for seven years been treated so poorly, and to what end? The deterioration of one of the country’s premier secondary institutions can be of no benefit to this nation, given the obvious need for sustaining strong school curricula.
President’s College ought to be recognised for the invaluable contributions it has and continues to make to this nation, and duly respected for a legacy of shaping brilliant young minds against enormous odds. The hallmark of the institution is its commitment to academics and social education; rearing young minds while fostering early independence and instilling values of social responsibility.
The college is in dire need of serious attention, which means the current indifference cannot continue. The nation’s youth at President’s College are no less than those being educated anywhere else in the city, and by extension the country, and it is therefore unfortunate that such a perception is being entertained.
It is not simply a question of what has been budgeted for the institution, but also what has happened to it and why. The reality of decrepit classrooms, inadequate furniture, no equipment for practical school assignments, limited and at times no access to running water sit atop a list of obvious neglect.
The President’s College I remembered also suffered from neglect, but never this transparent. What is tragic is that the institution was allowed to depreciate since my departure a few years ago, and no one apparently cares.
It is therefore left to individuals like me, who would have benefited tremendously from the college to lead a chorus against those responsible, and to press continuously for change. As an old student of the college the continuing neglect knifes me in the stomach as well as provokes some anger.
I was not afforded the opportunity to be proactive in my days as a student of the college in pressing for change because, “things were simply not this bad!” I shudder to see firsthand how intolerable the environment has become.
I support the educators and students of the college at this critical time as they push for improved conditions. It is time that authorities address their concerns in totality and end the years of neglect.
Yours faithfully,
(Name and address provided)
