Management of all six traditional Halls of the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology including all hostels on campus have issued notices directing all residents of these halls and hostels to vacate their rooms on or before the 22nd of December, 2018.
The University Hall also known as Katanga is directing all students of the hall to leave by Friday 21st of December, all other halls including Unity hall, Republic hall, Independence hall, Queens and Africa halls demand that students leave their rooms with all their belongs on or before 22nd December.
It will be recalled that the students’ demonstration that resulted in the closure of the university for about a month necessitated a change in the academic calendar of the university. With the new academic calendar, the university is expected to break for Christmas from the 22nd of December to 4th of January 2019. The new arrangement also means that the university will conduct its first semester examination after the Christmas break from 4th January to 19thJanuary, 2019 after which the university will vacate for another two weeks before beginning the second semester.
The directive left scores of students agitating. Most of the Students have been complaining that apart from the fact that the notice was too short, the decision to sack all students from the halls will have a serious toll on them. While some of the students are saying that they should be allowed to stay because they can’t learn at home, others believe the risk involved in travelling to and fro should be avoided.
Meanwhile some students’ activists are raising red flags about the development, key among them is the President of the Science Students’ Association (SCISA), and a member of the KNUST SRC Parliamentary council, Mr Samuel Sesah who has petitioned the SRC president, Mr. Kelvin Sah to use his office to initiate negotiation with management of the University as well as management of the traditional halls on campus to allow students who will wish to stay back during the Christmas break to do so.
