STUDENTS of the University of the West Indies yesterday staged a demonstration on the Mona campus, to protest against the International Monetary Fund (IMF)-ordered freeze on subsidies to tertiary institutions, as well as the impending hike in tuition fees and other costs.

The students, armed with anti-Government placards, later gathered at a function attended by Education Minister Andrew Holness on the campus and stood silently as a mark of protest against the measures, which will see subsidies to the university capped at last year’s level.

Responding to the protesters, Holness quoted from the IMF’s Letter of Intent which calls for “a nominal freeze on tertiary subsidies at the level of the budget year 2009/10”.

Holness said a disproportionate amount of Government resources was being spent on tertiary education when compared to other levels of the sector.

Government spends $14 billion annually on tertiary institutions, which cater to 60,000 students, but only $2 billion on the early childhood sector with 150,000 children, and $10 billion on the primary level with 250,000 students.

“It shows that some amount of rebalancing has to take place, and in a time of crisis everyone will have to share in the burden,” Holness said. He added that secondary students would also have to sacrifice as the subsidy on their examinations had been cut dramatically.

He was guest speaker at UWI’s annual research day, where the militant but silent protesters had gathered.

The minister promised that student fees would not be increased above the inflation rate and that Cabinet would next week discuss a “targeted approach” to assisting students at risk of being de-registered from institutions for non-payment of fees.

President of the UWI Guild of Students Vishwanauth Tolan said the Government was always giving students “words of comfort”, while in reality students would have to bear the brunt of the IMF deal.

“We want the Government to know the students are upset and disgruntled with what may happen in the future. By telling us that Government is going to look at the situation is not enough. Our problem is that things that have been proposed in the past do not materialise,” Tolan told the Observer.

Vice-president of public relations for the University of Technology’s Student’s Union Shikisha Cowan has, meanwhile, requested information on the implications of the subsidy freeze on students of that institution before initiating any protest.

Cowan, too, took issue with the decision to channel funds to the lower-education levels at the expense of the tertiary sector.

“We must be able to educate our people to the highest levels and not just to the secondary level. We need people who can compete globally in order to make Jamaica globally competitive,” Cowan contended.

She said students at UTech were feeling the economic pressure just as those at primary and secondary schools.

“I know of students who make the decision what days to attend classes because they cannot find the bus fare and lunch money every day. When you take away more of the subsidy from the tertiary institutions you are saying that our development is not as important as other areas,” Cowan said.