UB students protest for change

Late this evening, a demonstration was held at the University of Belize campus on University Drive. The students are protesting the deplorable conditions of the campus and demanding better classrooms. As the protest got underway and the students gathered with placards in hand, they were informed that an agreement had been made between the administration and the student government. But that didn’t stop them from coming out in numbers to publicly make their demands known in front of the Faculty of Arts and Education on University Drive. News Five was there.

Cordelia Bellezaire, President, UB Student Government, Bze City Campuses

“What we have been facing over the past couple months is that the grounds; it is very uneven. There is a lot of potholes, especially for those who drive lower vehicles, under their vehicles always get scraped. So at least that needs to be addressed. When it rains, the potholes are filled with so much water, the yard is muddy, water settles around campus which causes the manifestation of the mosquitoes. And everyone who goes here knows that they have been having a lot of problems with the mosquitoes. And those are just minor compared to some of the classroom issues that we have in regards to the poor lighting around campus, the screens, the louvers, the bathrooms—those are just some of our concerns—our computer labs; those are just come of the concerns that we have.”

Andrea Polanco

Cordelia Bellezaire

“Now you say for months you guys have been experiencing this. What has the status of the negotiation been like over those months?”

Cordelia Bellezaire

“Well we have been contacting those in administration for quite a while now, but as of today, they met with the student government this morning and we started that process and decided that we have come to an agreement that we will be giving them the time necessary in order for them to address our concerns because we know that it will take time. However, we didn’t want it to come to this point, but we are already almost a month in and this is something that has been prolonging for too long. We want to welcome our new students, let them feel welcome and an environment like this at the Faculty of Education is not really an enabling environment.”

Andrea Polanco

“Now you met with them this morning, what have they said will be addressed and what is the timeline in addressing those issues?”

Cordelia Bellezaire

“Well we have come to an agreement and in regards to the campus grounds, we had agreed that up to Wednesday of next week which will be the twelfth of September, the campus ground should have already been leveled and also all the potholes should already be filled. And that is just an agreement that we agreed upon until after—you know they have to do the upkeep, but until after the rainy season is over because the grounds need to at least be paved. Throwing stones is just temporary and they had agreed with us and we had also agreed with them.”

Andrea Polanco

“So now you’ve come to that agreement, why are you guys still out here with your placards, with your signs? What message do you want to send out and who exactly do you want to direct this message towards?”

Cordelia Bellezaire

“Well we had already organized this demonstration, so we didn’t want to back out because students’ momentum was already at peak.  So we don’t want them to feel as if though the student government would just leave them behind. And we are just trying to let administration know that we are united as one and we are willing and ready to work with them.”

Andrea Polanco

“So now I must ask; what is the status of classes? Are classes being held right now or are students not inside the classroom because of this staged protest?”

Cordelia Bellezaire

“Well the teachers have a job to do and they have their own management; their own board to report to. So they have to have class sessions; however, without our presence that would be impossible. So we are just asking the students to stay and unite together as one because their issues and their concerns need to be heard.”

While the student body and the UB authorities have reached agreement to improve the conditions, there is another issue that is looming. As recent as this past July, government announced that due to budget cuts, it is going to cut off the one hundred and fifty dollar subsidies on student fees; effective in January 2013.