Dear Editor,
Today I experienced one of the most humiliating and distressing moments of my academic life at the University of the West Indies Five Islands Campus. During a scheduled lecture, I suffered a seizure in the middle of class.
What should have been a moment where basic human decency and urgent care were shown instead revealed a shocking lack of compassion and responsibility from the very person entrusted with our education.
While I was visibly struggling and in clear need of immediate medical attention, the lecturer chose to continue teaching as though nothing was happening.
My classmates sat in confusion and discomfort, some attempting to help while others froze out of fear, yet the individual leading the class pressed on with slides and notes as if the sight of a student in distress was not worth pausing for even a single moment.
This is not a trivial matter. A seizure is a medical emergency that can cause serious harm and even endanger life if ignored. No professional educator should ever dismiss the wellbeing of a student in such a careless manner.
Universities are supposed to be places where we are not only educated but also valued as human beings.
To have my condition disregarded in this way is a violation of trust, dignity, and the duty of care that should exist in any learning environment.
The situation also raises troubling questions about whether lecturers at UWI Five Islands receive any proper training in emergency response or basic first aid.
If an institution of higher learning cannot guarantee that its staff will react with urgency and humanity when a student collapses or suffers a seizure in front of them, then the entire system has failed. Parents, guardians, and students themselves expect better.
We expect our campus to be a safe environment where health crises are taken seriously, not brushed aside so a PowerPoint can continue uninterrupted.
I am deeply shaken by the memory of lying there on the floor, disoriented, while the lecturer simply carried on. This is not the conduct of a professional.
This is neglect.
It sends a message to all students that their health, safety, and humanity are secondary to the mechanical delivery of a syllabus.
The university leadership must take immediate action. Lecturers must be trained, protocols must be enforced, and respect for the lives of students must be restored.
What happened today is more than unacceptable. It is dangerous, and it cannot be allowed to happen again.
Respectfully,
