Students of the University of The Gambia have protested against “scarcity” of buses to transport students to the varsity Faraba campus. 

The student protesters held placards chanting “management down”, “We need sufficient buses”, “Respect the students”, “Quality education is what we need”, “Enough is enough”. 

Speaking to Ebrima Saidy, a final year student dismissed claims the availability of 20 buses to transport students to and from the Greater Banjul to Faraba.

“The students have been faced with lots of challenges when it comes to transportation from here to Faraba. I have seen some who have been standing and some who have never sat on those buses to attend their lectures in Faraba. Those 20 buses are not true because you have seen the campus being turned into a battle ground for students to get on to the buses,” he said.

Mr. Saidy vowed that if their concerns are not addressed that they will embark on an indefinite sit down strike until their concerns are met.

“Whatever they are doing is left to them but also we are going to do even if it is going to directly affect us. So, if these people don’t adhere to our concerns, probably what we will do is to embark on a sit-down strike to ensure no students go to school,” he added.

Dr. Ismaila Ceesay, senior political science lecturer who came to the protesting students to calm the tension down, urged them to take a more professional approach in expressing their concerns to the management than protesting.

“Let us be strategic in our approach. Let’s write our approach. We will arrange for you to meet the Vice chancellor. He is very receptive. So, this approach will not solve the problem. I can tell you this approach will not solve the problem,” he told them.

Another senior official of the UTG who addressed the protesters promised that the management will surely address their concerns.

“What I want to tell you is to be patient. Development takes time and we cannot solve everything overnight. So, we appeal to you and we appeal to your student leaders if you have grievances, the right thing to do is to come to us as the management to express those concerns and we deal with them. This is not the best way to deal with an institution. We have an institution and we have the integrity of and this is not best,” he said.

The students also complained of shortage of water at the campus.

Reporting by Adama Makasuba