Students of the Savannah College of Education in Daboya in the Savannah Region, have locked up lecture halls and boycotted all academic activities with a threat to deal with any lecturer who steps foot in the school.
The agitated students, who are mostly in level 100, say they have been deceived by the management of the College regarding the school’s status.
According to them, they had been told that their school would be absorbed by the government to become a public facility only to gain admission, to find out that it was inaccurate, even though they found the school’s name on the website of the Ghana Tertiary Education Commission, GTEC.
Some students who pleaded anonymity told Myjoyonline, “We have been scammed, and so, we will not attend lectures or patronize any academic activities until management opens up on the actual status of the college. It’s clear they have something up their sleeves that we need to know. When some of us saw the college’s name on the website of [GTEC], that the college was absorbed into the public sector, we were convinced and bought forms and were given admission to the college, only for us to hear rumors of a private status and all manner of stories.”
“Now, everyone, including the principal, is avoiding us. So, until we know our fate, no tutor will be allowed on campus in the name of teaching, “they indicated.
As the only established tertiary institution in the region, the Savannah College of Education was established in the year 2022 as a private institution and in 2024, a Memorandum of Understanding was signed between the government of Ghana and the College for it to be formally absorbed by GTEC, but the college is still facing challenges of obtaining formal accreditation.
In an interview with the Public Relations Officer of the college, Jamal Mohammed, he explained that the absorption of the college is a process, and students need to bear with the school’s management.
“Absorption is a process, so we started the process since the year 2023 and later signed an MoU with the government in 2024, and it’s a matter of time and things will be normalised,” he stated.
Meanwhile, the Wasipe Palace has dispatched five chiefs to Damongo to meet with the patron of the College, Yagbonwura Binikunuto Soale I on the way forward.
According to the Palace, apart from the signing of the MoU, President John Dramani Mahama, during his campus connect visit in the 2024, promised to ensure that the college was absorbed by his government in his first hundred days in office.
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