News of government's attempts to RENAME at least
two of the three UDS campuses has been greeted with mixed feelings. However, it
is noteworthy that there is general sense of repudiation especially among
stakeholders. I wholly associate myself with those who are against this move
and wish to let you into my reasons.
To start with, it is regrettably instructive to
note that this decision has already been consummated and sealed by the
government together with the school management. It is only awaiting a formal
announcement by President Mahama any moment from now (possibly in the 2016
state of the nation's address) which shall of course, come with the usual
funfair; just for the politics of it. The Vice Chancellors for UDS has in fact,
informed the student leadership and others of this decision.
By this decision, only the Tamale/Nyankpala campus
shall maintain the name, UDS. The Navrongo campus shall assume the name,
University of Applied Science whereas the Wa campus shall be called, North-West
University.
Again, per this move, some of the
programmes/courses being run by the University shall be moved across the
various campuses in the name of course rationalization, which would surely come
at great inconvenience to the students and staff of UDS. It is therefore not
surprising that most of the students are very much concerned just like every
other ardent admirer of the UDSs and tertiary education in general.
The Alumni Association of the University is also
concerned about this "unpopular decision" by President Mahama and the
NDC government because among other things, its proud heritage awaits
extinction. I have spoken to and heard some of the former students and student
leaders of UDS who are deeply worried and wish something urgent could be done
to foil this move for obvious reasons.
The CHANGE OF NAME, government argues, has been
necessitated by its decision to grant these UDS campuses, AUTONOMY status which
shall be made public in the imminent announcement to be made by the President
very soon. As you may know, government has already started moves to review the
existing law (PNDC L. 279, 1992) that established the University for the
purpose of actualizing of this so called "autonomy and nomenclature
project" so to speak.
The major concern here is that these UDS campuses
have on their own, NOT developed enough FACULTIES (programmes of study,
infrastructure and staff development among others) to warrant the grant of
Autonomy Status to each campus. How does government expect these institutions
to run on their own with the aforementioned manifest inadequacies? For God's
sake, we should be guided by precedence. This SAME NDC government in 2011,
changed the name of the then Sunyani Campus of KNUST to University of Energy
and Natural Resources (UNER) with the claim that it had granted the
institution, an autonomy status.
However, we were later told that government had
built a new University (UENR) in Sunyani despite the fact that very little was
done to better the lot of the institution in order to effectively function as a
typical autonomous institution. The institution (UENR) is still overwhelmed by
huge infrastructure challenge as we speak. Perhaps government should also
consider providing AUTONOMY to all the campuses of UEW so that it would end up
"building" more Universities than Senior High Schools. Autonomy
indeed!
If government indeed wishes to genuinely to grant
AUTONOMY to deserving institutions as it claims, then it should direct its
attention to the numerous private universities including Central University,
Pentecost University, Methodist University, Ashesi University and the likes;
which have existed for more than 10 years, built strong FACULTIES and indeed
met all the criteria for the grant of autonomy status. Why is government
refusing to grant them the autonomy, which they've always fought for? You can't
play politics with a sensitive sector like education and this, government must
be told in unequivocal terms.
DEDUCTIONS/SUGGESTIONS
It is very clear from the foregoing that this
decision by the government is unmeritorious and politically-driven in order to
gain cheap political advantage ahead of the November Polls. Do not be surprised
when you soon hear government communicators argue that the Mahama
administration has built 3 more universities and possibly include same in the
next edition of their Green Book.
I am happy that a concerned group in Tamale, led by
one Adam Mohammed Siisudeen has already cautioned government on this move as
reported by citi fm. I wish to also use this opportunity to call on the
students of UDS, former students and alumni association as well as all other
stakeholders to speak up against this unpopular move, which from all
indications, is pregnant with ineptitude and seeks to compromise education
standards on the altar of political expediency.
Thank you.
Compiled by;
A concerned admirer of the UDSs
IDDI MUHAYU-DEEN
Student Activist/Social Commentator
Former NUGS Secretary
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