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Students threaten to stage 'red protest' over utility bills payment
The Union has warned there will be a ‘red protest’ by all tertiary students in the country if the government fails to address their concerns.
“We are giving them two days, if after then the National Union of Ghana Students does not hear anything from the Ministry of Education, the NCTE or VC Ghana [on the utilities], then we are calling on all students of Ghana to go red,” the President of NUGS, Paa Kwesi Adu told Accra-based Citi FM.
READ ALSO: University of Ghana
The decision for students to pay utility bills came out on March 25, 2015 at a meeting which drew stakeholders in tertiary education to one auditorium at the University of Professional Studies, Accra (UPSA).
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The directive for students of public tertiary institutions to pay utility bills was expected to take effect from the 2016/17 academic year.
Undergraduate students of the University of Ghana, Legon were recently up in arms against the government following a proposed utility fees of up to over GHC2,000 starting from the 2016/17 academic year.
This was part of efforts by the university to clear debts owed utility companies.
But after resistance from the students, government, at a meeting with the Ministries of Education and Finance, and other stakeholders, came to an agreement for the universities to bear the utility costs.
However, President of NUGS said some schools are still asking students to pay for utilities.
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“It’s unfortunate that after the meeting some institutions have decided to charge students utility bills. The University of Professional Studies Accra is one of such universities. The UPSA have decided to go against the decision and are charging students utility bills. The students in the medical school at KNUST have equally been charged 1,000 cedis, very exorbitant fees, as utility bills,” he said.
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