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19.03.2009 Education

Dismissed T`Poly students plead for clemency

19.03.2009 LISTEN
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TWO of the seven students of the Takoradi Polytechnic who were dismissed by the school last year, for their alleged involvement in acts of indiscipline, Mr. Samuel Ofori Atta and Nabare Wolodawe Clement, have jointly appealed to the President, John Evans Atta Mills to use his good office to constitute an independent body of enquiry to investigate the circumstances that led to their dismissal.

They described their dismissal as unconstitutional and that injustice had been meted out to them. “As a matter of fact, this decision by the Polytechnic council in our view is unconstitutional, and an act of injustice which violates our constitutional right to education”, they pointed out.  

They further pointed out that “We cannot fight this case in court because of our vulnerability and being financially handicaped, but we can only appeal to the President to use his good office to immediately arrest the situation. That is the only way to give us the opportunity to complete our courses,” they stated.  

The two students made the appeal in an interview with this reporter in Takoradi recently. The dismissed students, according to them, were Michael Danso who was accused of stealing a 21-inch color television set belonging to Ahanta Hall. Messrs Nabbare Wolodawe Clement and Ofori Attah Samuel were respectively dismissed on the grounds of inciting rioting in the school and falsifying documents to boost their academic credentials respectively.  

They said some of the students were accused of being involved in examination malpractices, whilst others were accused of falsifying results to aid their chances to contest the local Student Representative Council SRC elections in the school. They said the dismissal had affected them greatly and would therefore want to urge the president to use his good offices to intervene.  

They told The Chronicle that they were not happy with the silence of the Students Representative Council (SRC) of the school on the matter, The Ghana National Union of Polytechnic Students GNUPS, the Western regional coordinating council, the parliamentary select committee on education and the Polytechnic Council itself.  

According to the two students, they did not appear before a disciplinary committee as stated in the polytechnic's status for wrong doers, but they were rather made to appear before an investigative committee, whose composition they questioned. They also alleged that the investigative committee did not recommend to the school for their dismissal.

In a letter dated March 7, 2008, signed by the Rector of the school, Dr. Samuel Obeng Apori, he indicated that they were being dismissed for falsifying their Cumulative Grade Point Average (CGPA) and inciting students among other reasons. “As the chief disciplinarian, I write to inform you that you have been dismissed from the Polytechnic”, Dr. Apori stated in his letter.  The affected students said though they appealed against the decision, it was turned down.

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