Management of traditional Halls in the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology including hostels on campus have softened their stance on compulsorily directing all residents of these halls and hostels to vacate their rooms on or before the 22nd of December, 2018.
Authorities of the University Hall also known as Katanga in a previous notice directed 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 demanded that students left their rooms with all their belongs on or before 22nd December.
The earlier directive left scores of students agitating. According to them, apart from the fact that the notice was too short, the decision to sack all students from the halls would have a serious toll on them. While some of the students expressed that they should be allowed to stay because they can’t learn at home during the break. Others also believed that the risk involved in travelling to and fro should be avoided.
The decision by management to rescind their compulsory directives for students to vacate premises of their halls comes few days after some students and leaders registered displeasure through various forms of petitions and further deliberations on the part of the Students’ Representative Council (SRC) with management to allow some students who may decide to stay in school during Christmas break.
Confirming the reconsideration to Focus News, Dean of Students in KNUST, Professor William Gariba stated that the revised decision means that;
- Students who wish to stay in the Hall should submit their names to the Hall assistant office by Friday, 21st December, 2018 to allow management allocate them bed spaces.
- Those who want to leave their luggage should itemize their stuff and send the list to the hall.
- Hall masters therefore appealing to students who can take their stuff home to do so, so they will bring back just a few things for the exam period.
Notice on Reconsideration of Previous Directive
Background
A recent students’ demonstration in KNUST led to the closure of the university for a period of three weeks necessitating a change in the academic calendar. 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 meant 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.