In less than a fortnight, two separate calls have come, all seeking to draw attention to the appalling conditions now existing in the country’s three Universities. 

The Students Representative Council of the University of Science and Technology, Kumasi, at a press conference recently appealed to the government as a matter of urgency to solve the accommodation problem confronting all the Universities. It also mentioned the snail pace of development on the campuses and the deteriorating conditions of residential facilities resulting there from. 

Then, the Vice-Chancellor of the University of Ghana at the commissioning of the 10 million dollar Noguchi Memorial Institute and later at the University’s congregation ceremony also had the occasion to draw the government’s attention to these same problems. 

In a country beset with numerous economic problems of very serious dimensions, there is the natural tendency to overlook, or perhaps under-rate, the problems which University authorities have had to tolerate over the years. But when the problems in our Universities get to a point where student intake has to be slashed and admission policies reviewed, then the stage is set for whatever government in power to come to the immediate rescue. 

The major problems facing the Universities at the moment are accommodation for residence and lecturers, finance and equipment. Although the introduction of non-residential admission, and double occupancy succeeded in temporarily solving the pressing problem of sleeping accommodation, yet this spawned other problems: The student of today has not only to struggle for a seat in a lecture room but also to queue early in the mornings at the toilets and bathrooms. He who manages not to miss a morning lecture still faces the problem of struggling for food in any of the dining halls. In point of fact, the system of pay-as-you-eat with all its health hazards was introduced to accommodate otherwise angry hungry students who could not be catered for. Life at our Universities has become a matter of life and death motivated, as it were, by the instinct of survival and characterised by the near-rowdy behaviour common in the dining halls. 

The repercussion of such intolerable and hostile academic conditions cannot be overlooked both in the short and long term effects. The falling academic standards we are witnessing today should not be explained away by political circumstances alone but equally in terms of inadequate facilities. 

Attention has been drawn to the need to re-organise the system of higher education in Ghana to reflect our anxiety for effective socio-economic development. Nobody disputes the contention that our educational system should ensure utilitarian rather than mere academic results. 

The country has inherited a system and if University education should continue to be encouraged then we must examine these basic priorities, since otherwise it would be unfair to expect them to effectively respond to our national aspirations. Expectation of creditable performance should go with the necessary moral and material backing. 

The “Standard” therefore joins in the chorus for immediate solutions to some of the problems facing our Universities and request the Limann government to launch a crash programme to build hostels to house excess students declared non-resident but who in fact loiter around the campuses putting up with friends in already over-crowded halls of residence. We also call on the government to initiate measures by which subventions to the Universities can be expedited. 

If we have the resources to build another university then there should be no excuse to dilute the quality of the existing ones by neglect and penny-pinching measures. Meanwhile, we request the government to launch an appeal to friendly nations for material aid for our Universities. If a clear picture of the current problems facing the Universities is painted, we believe they will generously respond as they normally do. 

In an atmosphere where every sector of the economy is crying for attention it requires more than one organ to save the Universities. However, the Limann government will not escape blame if it allows the appalling conditions to continue beyond the limit of the students’ endurance. Our problem as a nation is not the inability to diagnose our national illness but the political goodwill or the timidity to do what is right for the nation. There is no excuse to plead poverty and leave our three universities to become academic slums and in the same breath declare bravely to the world that the government is going to set up an Agricultural University. 

We advise the new Limann government to provide only what it can deliver and better still to deliver without promises. The politics of “soon this, soon that” associated with previous governments will be a cruel hoax in our present critical circumstances to be repaid in predictable fashion for years hence. 

 

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