U.B. students protest higher fees
In reaction to a sharp increase in school fees, today students from the University of Belize held a press conference in Belize City to launch a plan of action against the price hikes. According to student activist Moses Sulph, the centre piece of their campaign will be the truth.
Moses Sulph, Student Activist
?Our leverage to say that we cannot afford this increase is plain to see with basically the economy at the moment. There is no increase to anybody getting paid at their job site; their parents? pay isn?t getting an increase. So therefore where are you supposed to get your additional money from? What we are saying that on a whole, the university is not getting enough subvention that they were promised in the first place. So hence, this is one of the reasons why they have to increase the fees.?
Janelle Chanona
?So you are also calling on government to increase the subvention??
Moses Sulph
?Definitely, that?s the foundation of the problem in the first place. The subvention isn?t enough. So I?m hoping that they?ll do the right thing and increase the subvention so that this can be reversed.?
Janelle Chanona
?You just spoke about the economy being bad though. Where do you suppose government is going to get this money if things are as bad as they appear??
Moses Sulph
?I believe the money is there. I just believe that it?s not put to the right place. I believe that the money can come up from somewhere, which is less needed at this point to go towards education. I do believe that because as U.B. says in their logo? ?Education empowers a nation.? and if it?s not affordable, then it?s not accessible.?
We understand that meetings were held today between Minister of Education Francis Fonseca and members of the board of the University of Belize but the outcome of those talks has yet to be made public. This afternoon Sulph maintained that if the students are not satisfied with the outcome of negotiations over the fees, they will protest by holding demonstrations against the University and Government.
