The Dominica State College (DSC) administration’s decision to postpone in-person learning while repairs were being undertaken to the buildings damaged by Hurricane Maria has come under attack by Prime Minister Roosevelt Skerrit.
When the government stated in March 2022 that full-time face-to-face learning would resume as a result of the reduced cases of COVID-19, the tertiary institution decided to move forward with “remote learning” noting that it was necessary to ensure the safety of staff and students and the need to not disrupt the learning environment.
In response to a query from the media regarding the DSC’s nearly one-year-old decision, Skerrit said, “personally, I do not agree with the State College for not commencing classes in January. They could have done so online and they could have done a better way of facilitating classes.”
“I think they took a lazy person’s approach to this,” he added. “I don’t accept this at all, I don’t agree with them, and as a former lecturer of the state college I think they could have done much better to facilitate tuition at the college.
The prime minister continued by asking, “If you decide not to have classes, then why are you taking a salary then?” before emphasizing that such methods need to be modified in the future.
While the DSC President Donald Peters could not be reached for comment at the time of publication, the institutions did issue a statement telling the public that they were ready for the full restoration of face-to-face instruction beginning on February 27, 2023.
“Beginning today, Monday, February 27, 2023, we will start welcoming students back on Campus. Freshers /Freshmen Day which is targeted at our January applicants will be on Tuesday, February 28. On Wednesday, March 1, we will welcome back to campus our returning students for classes based on their class schedules,” said Monelle Alexis.
Public Relations and Student Recruitment Officer of the Dominica State College. Alexis concluded by thanking students from the Carpentry and Construction, Building and Civil Engineering, and Architectural Technology programmes for aiding the maintenance department’s repair of more than 500 pieces of furniture intended to serve the needs of staff and students, as well as other students and stakeholders for their patience and understanding during this period.
The DSC, in a statement earlier this month, mentioned that contractors were making repairs to its lower campus and that on-site instruction would resume once this was finished.
During a two-day protest in May 2021, faculty and staff at the DSC voiced their displeasure with the facility’s deteriorating circumstances, among other issues.
General Secretary of the Dominica Public Service Union (DPSU), Thomas Letang who at the time provided Dominica News Online, (DNO) with an update said that an assessment would have been carried out by the Public Works Division and that minor repairs would be undertaken whilst the major renovations will be carried out at a later date.
In 20 years this PM has sat on his backside and done nothing but sell passports and travel the world begging for money. His legacy with be that of the cruellest, laziest and most corrupt leader in the island’s history – and I’m including colonialists in that assessment.
Very well said!
Now his MO (modus operandi) is throwing people under the proverbial bus. Mark my words, soon he will toss the said Dr. MacInliar under the BIG Bus for not handling the peoples money in a satisfactory manner. With ConVince at his side once again this duo is setting the stage for a strong dictatorship in our blessed land. For Dca to grow them man MUST GO!
The double doctorate dude is reflecting once again that he’s a bully and not a refined leader, for after 22 years on the job he’s never accepted responsibility for any shortfalls in his decisions making, but feels he can use the Bully pulpit to castigated others. Why wasn’t this handled by the appropriate minister with responsibility for education? or why not handle it tactfully inhouse? I hear that the populist, dictator loves to point fingers at others and berate them but when he messes up he knows no one will take him up because they are afraid of him. Since no one is perfect I know he must have f@cked up more than once. Hope he doesn’t throw his wife and minister of housing under the bus like he just did in the case of DSC. All eyes are on you Skerritt. Do better than that.
What do you call a finance minister who used sale of Citizenship as the only instrument for growth and development? Laziness is too much of a mild category.
Listen to Mr I run tings on Dominica
Are you throwing Dr Peters under the bus?
De horse has left the stable
Everything is a direct reflection of YOU
What novel ideas, strategies or policies has Roosevelt put in place as prime minister to get the country out of its perpetual state of abject poverty? Not one. Dominicans are more dispossessed than ever before.
He has used the people’s money to construct grotesque apartment buildings that are alien to the architecture of Dominica. The man has wasted $millions of tax payers money traversing the globe and returning to the country with just his two long, empty hands.
Now for him to call some of the hardest working public servants lazy when he has not broken a drop of sweat in twenty years, is astonishingly hypocritical.
Why does this dimwitted egomaniac feel so comfortable degrading our people? He has labeled Dominicans as lazy, hungry, stupid, stale soup, old buggies and worse. Roosevelt is the one who has earned exclusive rights to those derogatory labels.
Somehow he is likening the lazy DSC staff to the lay UWP cabals. How about that, including you?
So y didnt skerrit meet the administration to discuss his disagreement when they spoke of online classes. Y he comes on the pulpit to preach this . There is a proper way to do things. If they don’t reapond then go preach..just loke when they come to bring coññege issues and govt don’t respond they take it to the streets. Stop being a mittle boy eh skerrot. U dealing with adults we not your children
Has Lying Roosevelt ever taken responsibility for things that go wrong because of his tardiness, incompetence and lethargy? Just like the Margot Hospital, the health centers, the public library, the courthouse, post office, he allowed the DSC to fall in a serious state of disrepair. But he is beyond reproach.
The question is: Why have all these public edifices fallen out of favour with the ruling dictatorship? How could this indolent dimwit accused hardworking civil servants of laziness? He should be ‘charged’ with dereliction of duty.
Roosevelt is a real existential threat to Dominica. The uncontested evidence can be seen in sports, the economy, in education and health, in wages and salaries, in politics and good governance. Gains that were made before Roosevelt’s stewardship are in reverse.
Whos the one that took the “lazy approach” by having your supporters depend on you for handouts?
The truth is that the damage was done in 2017 and the DSC should have been prioritized and repaired a long time ago. It’s a cheap and inappropriate shot by the PM on college staff who have been highlighting the issues for years. As for taking salary, they’ve been distance teaching, not sitting on their backsides. The PM is out of line and should apologize.
It is never your fault is it Roosevelt? Yet you claim you run things in Dominica and are the first to claim any of our so called successes, especially when they are at the promise stage. Now you want to blame Donald Peters I suppose, the very man appointed by you when he had a checkered history at West Indies cricket. You must take responsibility for that too brother.
So you going to put them in deplorable class rooms? Whats the word on Goodwill School also. Why 6 years after Maria do Goodwill School students still have to share the Grammar School with DGS students?
Of course it’s their fault and not yours for providing the funds for rebuilding. Talking about laziness, nobody more lazy than you and your fellow government ministers. Let’s keep things in perspective. You are running out of road!