Ghana Studies Association petitions against Public University Bill

The Ghana Studies Association(GSA) has joined other academic bodies to protest against Public University Bill.

The association described the bill as unconstitutional, unjustified, and has therefore called for a complete rejection since it is harmful to the mission of public universities.

“This draconian bill, which seeks to hand over control of tertiary education to the Executive Branch of the Government of Ghana, is a reversal of several decades of progress made by Ghana as an independent, democratic nation”, it said.

The academic group explained that government ought to fix challenges of funding as well as growing enrolments rather than the proposed bill.

“It is unclear what specific problem that the bill seeks to solve. It proposes changes that are inimical to the development of tertiary education in Ghana, and that will negatively affect students, scholars, researchers, and international collaboration”, the GSA noted.

It further implored the executive arm of government to withdraw the bill.

“We conclude by asking the executive to withdraw the bill; failing this, parliament should exercise its independence of the executive by rejecting it outright”.

The Ghana Studies Association (GSA) is a membership-organization of scholars of Ghana from all around the world, and whose current leadership and many of its members are based in public universities in Ghana.