She told a news conference at her ministry in Georgetown that this misconduct and indisciplined behaviour by some Guyanese students has prompted the Cuban authorities to put in place a strict 'Code of Conduct' which will have to be signed by all foreign students studying, or about to study, on the Caribbean island.

Dr. Leslyn Campbell, the Students Affairs Officer who was sent to Cuba over the past six months by the Public Service Ministry to look into the welfare of the Guyanese students studying there and to assist them in settling in, "It's a clear case of a few rotten apples spoiling the whole barrel".

Campbell, a Guyanese student who studied medicine in Cuba, said, however, that "things seem to be under control at the moment".

Permanent Secretary in the Public Service Ministry, Dr. Nanda Kishore Gopaul, pointed out that due to this level of indiscipline, one student lost his life in a motorcycle accident because, based on reports, he was very intoxicated, while another student was expelled from his university and had to be sent back to Guyana.

"Students have been known to be indulging in alcohol, going late for classes and these sorts of things which are in breach of their scholarship contract and we have never found the degree of indiscipline in any other place, among any other batch of students, than the last one...," Gopaul said, referring to the batch of 124 students who left Guyana for Cuba on September 20, 2002 on a chartered Universal Airlines flight from the Cheddi Jagan International Airport, Timehri.

In this regard, Gopaul warned parents of students who were (or are about to be) awarded Government scholarships that if their children cannot maintain and observe the rules governing their scholarships, they will be expelled and in addition, the parents would will have to fulfill the costs which the Government would have spent on those errant students.

"We have decided to rein them in and we have decided to make sure that discipline is maintained and those who cannot observe and uphold the rules governing the scholarships will be expelled. They will be brought back home and their parents will have to fulfill the costs which would have been spent on them so far," he declared.

"It's a message we want to get out to the parents of these students who are awarded Government's scholarships. I'm urging these students to adhere to the rules governing the scholarships. They've got to adhere to the rules and apply themselves diligently to the task since we will not tolerate failures and we will not tolerate indiscipline," Gopaul added.

He also thanked the Cuban authorities for their help and cooperation and in "continuing to allow Guyanese students to study in Cuba despite the fact that we have had some degree of indiscipline".

He noted that the Government is spending a substantial sum of money to send students to Cuba to study, and as such, the least that can be expected is for them to strive for excellence while at the same time maintaining discipline.

Gopaul said the level of indiscipline was mostly during the ending of last year and early this year.

He, however, endorsed Campbell's assessment that "the indiscipline problem is under control at the moment".

Minister Westford noted that she had to go to Cuba to visit the students after she got word that "their behaviour was getting a little too out of hand".

The minister said she met the students and urged them to maintain discipline and to conduct themselves in a decent manner or else they will be sent back home.

She said there was a one-day orientation ceremony with the students who were sent to Cuba recently but it seems that one day was not enough maybe because what was said at that orientation "went though one ear and out the other".

"We will now be having at least a one-week orientation with the students (and) we are going to be very seriously taking a better at look at our selection process," she said.

"Apart from academic qualification, we are going to be looking at lots of other things," she said.

Yesterday's news conference was to clarify misconceptions surrounding the unfortunate death of Mr. Rajkumar Tularam, a 23-year-old, third-year agronomy student who was studying on a Government scholarship in Cuba.

Tularam was killed in an accident while riding a rented motorcycle under the influence of alcohol, officials said.

Gopaul said the ministry was extremely disappointed with statements by the parents and relatives of Tularam when they appeared on a programme on CNS Channel 6, which was hosted by proprietor of the television station, Mr. C.N. Sharma. Claims of the Government's lack of concern in returning the body to Guyana and the uncertainty of the identity of the body were made on the programme.

"We are terribly disappointed with the channel that broadcast the programme without investigating the facts," Gopaul told reporters.

According to him, the criticisms were very unfair since the minister, the ministry and the Government went beyond their efforts to appease the parents of Tularam.

Westford said about US$9,500 was spent by the Government to return the body to Guyana. She said that due to the difficulties in getting the body to Guyana, the ministry offered to take the parents to Cuba and cremate the body there, but they declined with the explanation that Tularam had his relatives in Guyana.

She noted that there were several difficulties faced in bringing the body to Guyana and explained it was flown from Cuba to Venezuela, then to Trinidad from where it was supposed to have been brought on a BWIA flight to Guyana. However, a hitch developed in Trinidad when the immigration authorities there refused to allow the body to be taken off the aircraft, saying the documents were in Spanish and not in English and no one could interpret them.

She noted that although the British High Commission in Cuba had stamped the documents, the Trinidadian officials refused entry of Tularam's body and it was flown back on the return flight to Cuba, where further arrangements were put in place to send the body to Guyana.

Westford said the body was in Venezuela when officials detected a foul smell and they arrived at a decision to bury it. She said the aircraft had to be grounded for four days and fumigated. She noted, too, that with the assistance of the Embassy of Venezuela, plans were made to fly Tularam's parents to see the cremation, since she had begged the Venezuelan authorities to cremate the body instead of burying it so that the family would be able to bring back the ashes to Guyana to conduct their `dead work' according to Hindu rites.

Mr. Majeed Hussain, who accompanied the family to Venezuela for the cremation, which took place on March 11, noted that when the family arrived in Venezuela, they were shown all the documents relating to the body, including the passport and death certificate.

In this regard, Gopaul said the criticisms against Minister Westford were "totally unfair". "I don't think we could have done anything more. We went beyond what we possibly could have done," he said.

Westford said, "I am very perturbed over the fact that the parents resorted to treating the matter as it has been treated. It is very significant that since they returned from Venezuela I haven't heard or seen from any of them.