Dear Editor,
I am a final year student pursuing a Bachelor’s Degree in Public Management (PM) at the University of Guyana, Turkeyen Campus. Since the pandemic came and online classes began, the lecturers have been doing what they please. Exams are being given on Sundays and Holidays which never happened while on campus. When complaints are made, nothing is done.
In addition to that, lecturers are never available to teach courses for the Public Management programme. According to the academic deadline 2021/2022, July 2022 is the final month for UG and is the month of final exams. This is not the case with the PM students because only on July 11, 2022 a final year course, DPM 4206 began.
Since there aren’t lecturers to teach us at Turkeyen, we have Berbice lecturers teaching us. One course in particular DPM 4207 has been getting negative feedbacks from the students. The lecturer mentioned that they have been teaching for over 30 years but has absolutely no order in the way the course is delivered. Many students are frustrated because the lecturer teaches on a PhD level and students do not understand. Also, for the coursework the lecturer had given three assignments, two at 30% and the final assignment for 40%. Before entering final year, a previous final year student warned me about this lecturer however I chose to ignore the warnings. For most of the assignments submitted, students complained that they received between 13-15 out of 30. Mind you, other lecturers familiar with the topic would provide some guidance on the assignments but when the grades are returned, you fail.
At the end of every semester, the UOG asks students to evaluate each lecturer. I am 100% sure that the lecturer of DPM 4207 has received countless negative feedback but as mentioned, nothing is done. Tell me, what is the purpose of doing these evaluations if nothing is done?
I am writing this letter so that the UOG can look into this and see how students have been performing in the DPM 4207 course taught by the Berbice lecturer since the pandemic began. The UOG should also look into the courses which have no lecturer and students have to wait months before a course can begin. While students from other programmes get to enjoy their summer, Public Management students will be attending classes from now until October, 2022.
Yours faithfully,
(Name and address supplied)
