#BTSpeakingOut – UWI students thank you, PM

The views and opinions expressed by the author(s) do not represent the official position of Barbados TODAY.

by Tyrell Giles

Dear Prime Minister Mottley,

I write to you today to express my absolute gratitude towards you and your government. Many of us well recall when University of the West Indies programmes cost Barbadian students roughly $18 000 and beyond to pursue an undergraduate degree.

For a poor boy growing up in Allen View, St. Thomas, the thought of attending university was merely but a dream. One reason for not entertaining the thought of university was the fact that money would have to be borrowed to support the idea. Added to that, it always seemed as though a  person had to be cut from a particular type of cloth to attend university and be successful.

Indeed, myself and many others weren’t in a position to borrow anything to support this thought of university, and neither were our parents.

Nevertheless, these factors didn’t stop me from applying to pursue a Bachelor’s in Social Work (special) with no idea of who was going to fund this degree. I’ll go as far as to admit that I wasn’t the best student academically, so at that point in time, it truly wasn’t here nor there for me. What kept me going and invested, though, was hearing my grandmother brag about my mere university application as though I was already a full graduate. It was through her and other key family members that I kept the hope of being accepted to university alive.

Ironically, throughout your 2018 campaign, you mentioned that one of your mandates was that of covering the tuition cost for all Barbadian university students at the University of the West Indies. Like any other young person, I assumed it was all talk and empty promises coming from yet another politician. As the months of May and June went on, my anxiety, along with that of many other aspiring university students and their parents, started to increase.

Even though your party had won the election, we were still receiving emails from the university outlining the fees which included the said $18, 000. When we challenged or rather queried it, the university said they received no official communique from the government yet, so as it stands, the onus is on us to cover our costs.

The miracle occurred when I received my acceptance letter and correspondence that the government communicated with the University of West Indies regarding their covering of tuition costs in the same week. Madame Prime Minister, this gesture was indeed one which changed the lives of many young people in Barbados. This bold step by yourself and your government has paved the way for young professionals to take their academic and professional aspirations to the next level. Additionally, I am sure that there are many proud grandmothers like mine whose hearts are warmed, along with many parents and caretakers that contributed to the upbringing of a UWI student in this era.

We’ve witnessed the COVID-19 pandemic and the toll it took on Barbados and its finances, yet you still didn’t take this free education from us. Likewise, we witnessed the freak storm, ashfall and the passing of the recent hurricane, yet you still made it clear that this free education wouldn’t be taken from us.

During our stay at Cave Hill, we’ve been through rigorous methods of assessments. Though it seemed at some points as though lecturers were picking on us, we soon realised that, in most cases, they were pushing us to do our best. It is because of the caring staff at Cave Hill that we, the graduates, are now an addition to the critical thinkers in society. We are now citizens who know when to agree, when to challenge a decision, how to advocate and when to let things go.

Apart from that, some of us, like myself, decided to get involved in the rich guild politics while at the campus. I served as the Faculty of Social Sciences Representative for one year and now I serve as the Vice President of the Guild as I am pursuing my Master’s degree.

Through the many extra-curricular activities, many of us were able to meet and bond with our regional brothers and sisters. Most of us can now say for the first time that we have friends in multiple Caribbean islands. In a few cases, some of us have made a bond even more special than friendship and have found our significant other from another Caribbean island.

The graduating class of 2021 is the first group to have benefited from your kind gesture because we started in 2018. It would’ve been discourteous of us graduates, the first cohort of this grant, not to publicly thank you and your government for what you have done for us.

All you have asked in return is for us to do give-back hours, which we have been cooperating with you on. These giveback hours have been beneficial in helping most of us put what we’ve learned in the classroom into practice in the community. For example, I was able to put many of my social work skills and techniques to use while volunteering at homes for elderly persons, at-risk youth and even battered females.

  Madame Prime Minister, to you and the government of Barbados, we the graduating class of 2021, by extension, all Barbadian university students and aspiring university students, thank you very much for this grant.

Tyrell Giles (BSc) is Vice-president & ICC Chairperson The Guild of Students UWI, Cave Hill 2021/2022