The Queen’s College (QC) Old Students Association is running a promotional video lauding the school’s 178 years history and among other props. In the video, seen below, the presenters do not reflect the diversity of students that attended. Guyanese have been expressing their displeasure since the promo went viral, drawing attention to the fact that Guyanese of all ethnic, political, social and economic backgrounds attended the school.
The video, which flaunts the school’s legacy of “promoting Guyana and the world’s finest leaders in all areas,” appears as though only some groups were so privileged.
Criminologist, Mr. Mark Benschop, last evening, appearing on his ‘Straight Up’ programme addressed the matter and called for the video to be removed. Apart from it not representing QC’s tradition of enrolling diverse students and accepting that intelligence/smarts is not unique to any group, Benschop said he finds the promo sad, racist and heartless.
He attributed the manifest lopsided representation of the school’s history not to carelessness and insensitivity but to what he said is President Irfaan Ali’s failure to improve race relations and foster social cohesion, evident by the regime’s policies and dismantling of the named institution put in place by the David Granger/Moses Nagamootoo government.
In May 2015 the A Partnership for National Unity and Alliance for Change (APNU+AFC) government established the Ministry of Social Cohesion which was “responsible for nurturing individual and community relationships in building a unified Guyana. ” When the People’s Progressive Party/Civic returned to government in August 2020 the ministry was disbanded.
Benschop’s guest, Mr. Elson Low, himself a former QC student is also calling for the promo to be pulled, stating that it does not represent the historical diversity of the school, but the slanted depiction gets worse the more it is watched.
QC was originally the school of excellence for boys and Bishop’s High, the school of excellence for girls. In 1975 the schools became co-educational (i.e. gender integration). Some notable QC alumni are:-politicians Cheddie Jagan, Forbes Burnham and David Granger; entrepreneur, Stanley Ming; diplomats Rashliegh Jackson, Fred Wills and Sir Shridath Ramphal; novelists, Wilson Harris and E.R Braithwaite; national poet, Martin Carter; historian Dr. Walter Rodney. Numbered among the alumnae are educator, Dr. Maya Trotz; attorney-at-law, Dawn Holder-Alert; politician, Priya Manickchand.
See offensive video below
