Mr. Speaker, I wish to register my thanks to you for the opportunity to comment on the state of affairs in our tertiary institutions especially in the case of the University of Ghana, Legon which has been engulfed by the controversial in- out-out-out accommodation policy.
The heart of the problem is the ever- increasing student population on the campuses of our tertiary institutions. The case of the University of Ghana exemplifies this trend. In 2000, the Legon student population was 10,788. Today, the numerical strength has shot up to an estimated 28,480 in the same university. This means that over the seven-year period, there has been an average of nearly 43 per cent increase in the student population every year.
Mr. Speaker, it is a sad commentary that these phenomenal increases in the student population had not informed long-term planning for the development of the University. Thus, despite the consistent upward growth trend in the student population of the University of Ghana, there has regrettably not been corresponding infrastructural develop- ment and government subvention over the years. Rather, government subvention has continued to dwindle drastically in real terms over the years.
This has led to an acute chronic congestion in lecture rooms and halls of residence. It is not uncommon to find rooms originally meant for two students being occupied by eight. Equally worrying is the overt huge student numbers crowding the lecture rooms. Conse-quently students compete for every
conceivable utility -- bed rooms, bed space, water closets, bathrooms and dining halls. For example, as an adaptation to their inconvenience, some students resort to “free range” in attending to nature's call with its attendant snake bites and scorpion stings.
This reality on campuses obviously predisposes students to several avoidable infectious diseases including malaria, upper respiratory tract infections, typhoid fever, diarrhoea and chicken pox. The associated morbidity is compromised academic standards, low morale and misery.
Mr. Speaker, it is unthinkable that under such horrible conditions, the University authorities will reserve some “Dollar” Blocks in the congested traditional halls of residence for students who have the ability to pay exorbitant rent. Some live as comfortably as two to a room while their colleagues are left to their fate. This clearly mimics an apartheid system of education and must be condemned and discouraged.
The sneer at education is not limited to University of Ghana. Indeed, it is even worse at the University for Development Studies campuses in the three Northern Regions. The other tertiary institutions also have no good stories to tell.
Mr. Speaker, recently, students of the University of Ghana embarked on a massive demonstration in their protest against the in-out-out-out policy -- a policy of full cost recovery without human face. This demonstration led them all the way to the gates at the terminus of the 28th February Road of the Presidency at the Castle, Osu, ostensibly to present a petition to President John Agyekum Kufuor.
The police prevented the students from achieving their aim, resulting in an avoidable bloody scuffle involving alleged
