<B>By Pauline ETIENNE</B>

For the third time, a gathering of students of the University of Mauritius (UoM) has been postponed. This act of protest now looks more like a joke than a real desire of finding solutions to their problems. The latest gathering, planned for last Tuesday and aimed at listening to students? grievances and seeing what conduct they would adopt, was finally cancelled because there were too few students present. It does not speak highly of our main tertiary institution, supposed to be the place of debates and where the upper crust of students is gathered. But obviously, they are not interested.

For two weeks, the university has been the centre of attention. Many students have stood up to protest against some measures taken by the management. Two weeks later, the minister of Education, Dharam Gokhool, met them and gave in to their main requests.

Since then, the great majority of students have quietly gone back to their courses without asking anything more.

I am not telling all students to go on a strike that would penalise themselves first. If they did not go to the meeting, it may mean that they are fully satisfied with the decisions announced by the minister. But it could also mean that they have no interest in what happens to their university.

And yet, the UoM is facing serious financial difficulties and is bound to take a number of decisions if the Tertiary Education Commission (TEC) does not allocate it a bigger envelope. With a hole of Rs 45 million in the budget, it would be difficult to go on with business as usual.

In any case, even if students are satisfied with the recent declarations of minister Gokhool, they could take this opportunity to put some of their daily problems in the limelight.

The lack of books in the library and the obsolete equipment of the laboratories ? mentioned by the secretary of the Students? union in ?l?express? last Wednesday ? could be among them.

The most important thing is that students do not send the signal that they just don?t care about their future. Discussions and sharing of ideas may lead to constructive criticism that could help the university make some decisions. They should not forget what minister Gokhool said recently, ?If the university justifies a rise in its budget, then the TEC should look into it.? Students should play the game...