Double track university education in Ghana – UG management Petitioned

Double track university education at the University of Ghana may not be the results of the lack of ideas nor a deliberate attempt to reduce quality but something else. Well, opinions as are nose…Read Benjamin Sackey’s petition on the issue.

Double track university education – UG management Petition

The lethal COVID-19 pandemic has brought things to a standstill. As such, educational institutions are grappling with how to reopen schools under safe conditions without imperiling the lives of students.

Universities in Ghana, for instance, KNUST, UCC and UPSA have drawn their academic calendar which will enable all students to report to campus concurrently. To make sure social distancing protocol is duly observed, learning will mainly be undertaken online.

In UG, the normal period for a semester is Fourteen weeks. With the new system, the number of weeks has been truncated to barely nine weeks. This system would compromise academic proficiency because students would be coerced to learn a lot of things within some few weeks. Considering those offering science-related courses, combining the theory workload and practicals wouldn’t be easy at all. Most of these students are at the forefront of the vehemently protest against the modular system.

READ: Girls’ Education: Ensure every girl returns when schools reopen

Also, now that learning will be done mainly online, all students can report to campus and remain in their respective halls or rooms and still go about their academic work without flouting the Covid-19 protocols. Stringent measures could be put in place to ensure everyone conforms to the protocols.

University graduates have been chided by employers recently all because they fail to impress when given the opportunity at work. For the students to be fully equipped with the requisite knowledge to excel after school, they must be taught everything in detail without rushing through. Even with the normal period, people struggle to make an impact academically so you can imagine how these people would fare with the modular system.

Finally, the long period students have spent at home and anxiously waiting for reopening has been tainted by this module. If the school should go ahead with this module, it would prolong our stay in school. Normally, students in the humanities graduate in May/June but with this system, graduation will be held around November/December.

In conclusion, management should heed to the grievances of students and allow all students to report to campus due to the aforementioned cogent assertions made.

Fellow students, I urge us all to pray as SRC confronts management with our grievances.

Source:  Benjamin Sackey