Student Power
July 21, 2026
Transcript
The Standard
January 18, 1976
The three-day international seminar organised jointly by the International Union of Students (IUS), the All Africa Students’ Union (AASU), the National Union of Ghanaian Students (NUGS) and the Ghana National Students’ Organisation (GHANASO) ended in Accra last week.
The Conference had as its theme “Neo Colonialist penetration into African Universities and Higher Educational Institutions”.
There were student representatives from Asia, Africa, Europe, the Middle East and Latin America. Africa’s future leaders were in Ghana.
Throughout the 18th and 19th centuries intellectualism was a potent force to reckon with. Yet 20th, century student power has become a more formidable force. No state can exist progressively which does not recognise the might of these young intellectual elite, more especially so in the developing nations of the third world. That is why nations – even poor nations spend their hard-earned foreign currency in sponsoring international conferences of students.
But the question on the lips of many Ghanaians today is to what extent the recent conference in Accra benefited the peoples of Africa.
Was the topic:
“Neo-Colonialist penetration into African Universities………” of any great significance to Africans?
No doubt the student leaders were themselves confused. For they failed to make themselves clear what the term “Neo-Colonialist” means.
The public demands these answers: who is the “Neo- Colonialist?” And how does he enter Africa’s institutions of higher learning? If there is a common enemy impeding the progress of Africa and Ghana, this must be identified. For the battle can’t succeed without a proper identification of who the enemy is.
The child is father of the man, so William Wordsworth tells us. Therefore if students of today are to be leaders of Africa tomorrow, they should start taking a comprehensive stock of themselves now. They should not allow themselves to be fooled in any way by any group of people, or individuals.. This is the way to academic and sociological maturity. If students are not to be labelled “SHALLOW MINDED” then they should wipe away elements of sensitivity or abject emotionalism from their activities.
For where emotionalism makes captive of a man sweet reasonableness fades away. Students in general are pre-occupied with certain ideas dug from books. So in the world of students the proper study of mankind is books. That is right. For the past and the present are the repositories of knowledge. It should be a matter of synchronizing rather than of rejecting the past as something of no value.
Our world is not a string of islands. It is one big continent, where man is continuously battling with new ideas. And if students are not willing to learn they arc no more students.
What the tax-payer expects of students is intellectual honesty. They are interested in objective thinkers and not in political demagogues. Let students fail in these and they are no less guilty than the so-called “disgruntled politicians”. Public funds cannot be wasted on political agitators whose only sense of nationalism is to appeal to the cupidity and prejudice of the masses. No! In this day and age factious orators are more dangerous than the neo-colonialist—whoever he is!
If students want to liberate Africa (from what?) so well and good but let them do it with moderation. For moderation always wins. Irresponsible radicalism does nobody any good. It is the root of quarrel. And quarrel is often the excuse for doing nothing. Africa is fed up with empty slogans, and cheap student-unionism.
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