Since the last time we met and the decision was made to put off everything until September, there have been concerns and we are imploring you and the powers that be, to rethink your decisions regarding the practicum and the reinstating of the summer classes. The latest blow to our already fragile mental state is the decision to have us do FIVE chapters instead of FOUR (like all other 4th year students are doing) for our research.

There were issues regarding the research and how and what we should do since we were in third year. We were advised against doing the needs assessment and that is an integral component to doing one of the Chapters in the research. How then are we to find the information needed to do that chapter and to submit it for the extension given to us? A number of us are having internet issues and have not yet completed the four chapters and some are awaiting feedback from our supervisors to do corrections and resubmit. The issues with the research have nothing to do with us but we are the ones bearing the brunt of the frustrations caused by miscommunications from our faculty advisors.

We, in the euphoria of the moment, saw it as a reprieve to do the practicum in September. Having settled down to thinking and realizing that we were the ones who have been shortchanged, our frustrations have set in and we are in panic mode. Some of us have a course or more carrying and have conditioned our minds to do so in the summer but with the cancellation of the summer classes, where will this land us, especially in our job-seeking quest?

It is known in the Jamaican school setting that individuals leaving universities are not outfitted with their certificates until their graduation but what will be our fate when we have core subjects carrying and the core practicum outstanding? With the current situation now facing the country regarding the coronavirus, we are unsure of a job in the school setting. For those of us who may get a job, do you think they would be able to afford us days off to play catch up with practicum and classes? What would be our fate in such a school where we would be on observation with appraisal coming up at the end of the term, what would be a fair result to us in such a situation?

A number of us came in on grants, student loans and other financial aids, some of whom we need to get a job so we can arrange payment plans to start paying what we owe, how are we to maintain our sanity with so many obstacles weighing down on our minds? We have taken a lot of licks over the years, all in the name of misunderstandings due to miscommunication, poor communication and laid back attitudes, but we are now realizing that all other 4th year students from other departments are leaving school with only the quest for a job, and so we are standing together to seek some solutions to these issues facing us.

We know the staff may be thinking that there is no way out and so we are putting a few recommendations on the table a start for the discussion on finding a way.

• Regarding the research, allow us to do the 4 chapters with the new deadline date set for July 7, 2020.
• Regarding the practicum, we have two (2) suggestions:
• As it relates to the summer courses, the outlines and content could be sent to the relevant persons and the assignments and due dates communicated to them. The attendance to classes be waived and we attend for the examinations in the new term. We are not sure of our status for the new term and so we are circumventing the issues that may result in some of us not being able to attend the classes in the new term.

• This could be done in some of those places of safety such as children's homes, under the supervision of the persons in charge. Whatever rules govern these institutions, we would be willing to sign to and govern ourselves accordingly.
• We use simulation at school. This would require us to come to school and our lectures who know what they would be observing us for in the schools in September set up scenarios and have us complete the counseling in groups and individual as per the requirement for us to matriculate. We are also willing to be marked without leniency for our output.

Lectures, we know that as human beings we will err, but it is how we fix the issues that arise out of the mistakes that make the difference.

Regards,

4th-year Guidance and Counselling Students