U.C.B. students concerned about new university
The government is in the process of creating the University of Belize which would be an amalgamation of a number of tertiary level institutions throughout the country. While the details of the plan are not yet clear, among the proposals are moving the main campus of U.C.B. from the Landivar area of Belize City to Belmopan. Understandably the students who attend classes at U.C.B. are concerned about how this will affect their ability to pursue their studies, but more importantly they want to have some input into the development of the new university. To make the students aware of the issues and encourage them to air their views, the Student Government Association held a consultation today and has invited U.C.B. and government officials to address the student body tomorrow. But as News Five found out, the low turnout today has S.G.A. president Noel Novelo concerned.
Noel Novelo, President, S.G.A., U.C.B.
“We have 434 full time students and of those, 70 – 100 students turned out for today. I think the group that is here is trying to keep the spirit up and trying to think about the issues and how to tackle them. Our main goal was to share the available information and make information available to all full time students. For that purpose we invited the Minister of Education, the Permanent Secretary of Education, the Head of the U.B. Secretariat and we also invited our own President of U.C.B. Dr Cal. All of them have confirmed their participation.
It is very demoralizing and very disappointing to see that the majority of students are not here. The way government will look at it, I am sure that any government would. If you see five persons out on the street you won’t take notice but if you see a 90 percent of the student population coming out then you would have more of an impact in what the government decides to do. They would say, hey the students are interested.”
Novelo says it is not too late for the students to get involved and he urges all U.C.B. students, both full and part time to come out tomorrow, especially those from Belize City.
