Students spit 'fire' over killer fees

The demonstrating students surrounded by police personnel - Pix: Eric Owiredu

Students of the University of Ghana,   yesterday, took to the streets of Accra in  protest against the arbitrary increase  in the fees of students of the university for the next academic year.

The University of Ghana recently adjusted user fees upwards to over 45 per cent for the next academic year, and this, the students say, is unjustified and extremely exorbitant, and are demanding an immediate reduction.

The students, numbering over 600 and clad in red chanted, songs that denoted their displeasure at university authorities, especially, the Vice Chancellor, over what they term his hard 'headedness in listening to reason.'

Yesterday's demonstration, dubbed 'Yentua' to wit, 'we won't pay,' also comes as a total defiance of an earlier appeal by the Deputy Minister of Education, Mahama Ayariga, to the students to rescind their decision to demonstrate, and dialogue with their authorities over a possible reduction.

The students say their Vice Chancellor had remained adamant, and had failed to consider their concerns, hence their resort to the streets.

Some of the placards displayed by the students during the demonstration read: 'V.C must go,' 'Education war in Ghana,' 'we no go pay, sakawa fees,' 'Legon is not for V.C,' 'Atta, please call V.C to order,' 'how can we be future leaders, if we can't pay fees' among many others.

It all started in the morning at the Justice Park at the Kwame Nkrumah Circle, a venue that is notoriously becoming the assembly point of almost all demonstrations in Accra, when students of the University of Ghana made good their promise of an intended demonstration.

The students, full of energy, sang traditional university tunes, most of which are adulterated popular tunes.

Smart business minds were also at play at the Justice Park, when traders took advantage of the occasion to cash in on the sale of vuvuzelas, which became a major feature of the demonstration. The demonstrators blew the vuvuzelas as they virtually run through the streets of Accra as though it was a marathon, putting police personnel to a test of their fitness level.

The revered Chief Vandal and the Chief Priest of the University of Ghana were also present to show solidarity to their colleagues in their cause.

The students first submitted their petition to Parliament, and were received by Gershon Gbediame, Deputy Majority Chief Whip. Mr. Gbediame assured the students that Parliament would take close look at their concerns.

Another petition was presented to the Ministry of Education, and was received on behalf of the ministry by Deputy Education Minister Mahama Ayariga.

At the Ministry of Education, the hitherto peaceful demonstration was nearly marred, when the students demanded they be allowed to enter the premises of the ministry to present their petition, instead, they were met on the street by the Mr. Ayariga to receive the petition.

This turn of events agitated the students, who said they felt insulted, and expressed their disappointment in the authorities at the Ministry for treating them with contempt.

They, however, attempted break into the yard, but were repelled by the police.

On July 18, 2011, a petition was presented to the Vice Chancellor of the university by the leadership of the Distance Education Unit of the university, calling for a reduction in their fees, which had also been increased substantially.

'We wish to register our disapproval with the over 40 percent increment in the fees of students on the Distance Education mode of the University for the 2011/2012 Academic year,' the leadership of the students noted in the petition.

They further noted that as stakeholders, 'we proposed on January 6, 2010 to be involved in the process, as is done for our counterparts on campus to avoid the agitations from our members. Unfortunately, again, we were not involved, and the fee has skyrocketed, from GH¢680 in 2010 to GH¢829, and now, 2011, GH¢1,123. This, we noted, is too much, and likely to jeopardise the academic life of the over 7,000 students on the programme.'

They emphasised that in as much as they believed in the vision to make Legon a world class university, 'we don't think we should be overburdened to make this vision a dream come true.' The student leadership was, however, hopeful that the government would heed their plea and reduce the fees.