With reference to the release by the University Council of KNUST, dated 26th August 2022 with reference number, KNUST/UC/12 to abolish the Junior Common Room (JCR) system of hall management by students, the indefinite suspension of hall week and SRC week celebrations, dismissal, rustication, and withdrawal of students who participate/organize morale/procession and harboring of alumni in the hall of residence is not only irrelevant but an ostrich approach which does not solve the problem at hand.
In as much as we condemn the violence and actions of students which resulted in the destruction of properties; however, the KNUST Council is quick to bury the root cause of the violent clash and resorted to an ostrich approach of banning and restricting student activities. This is not the first time the Council has used restrictions and ban to try to curb violent clash yet has yielded no results.
In the 2018/19 academic year, the two traditional male halls, University Hall and Unity Hall, were converted into a mixed hall to curb the issue of violence between these two halls but yielded no results. Hence there is no guarantee that the current decision of the University council to abolish the JCR system of hall management by students and the suspension of Hall week and SRC week celebrations going to solve the problem at hand.
The ad hoc decision by the University Council has punished several other halls including Queen Elizabeth Hall, Africa Hall, Republic Hall, and Independence Hall, whose JCR system of Hall management by students has been peaceful and served as a training ground for leadership among students. Why deny these Halls that do not have a record of indulging in violence during their Hall week celebrations the privilege to have their hall week celebrations and also the JCR system of Hall management by students?
The University Council has succeeded in separating students’ organizations and various associations from their funds and deepening centralized planning to the neglect of students’ interests. This approach has weakened the participation of students and weakened students’ leadership allowing top-down implementation of decision-making. It is highly dissatisfactory, that the University Council could not identify the root cause of the violent clash by its fact-finding committee but seized the opportunity to increase its dominance over the rights of students to have their representative for Hall management.
We, therefore, advise the University Council to find the root cause of the violence, publish the outcome and deal with it and not to be reactive and speculative in decision making. Also, the council should take a conscious step to increase participatory decision-making to make and build a sense of entitlement and responsibility for the actions of students.
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