Legon to ban "perching"

The University of Ghana is to outlaw the incidence of ‘perching’ from the next academic year.

Perching is the practice of non-residential students staying with friends resident on campus.

So notorious has the practice been that accommodation on campus has seriously been affected over the years.

The University is currently engaged in putting up a 7000-bed capacity hostel and believes when completed in about 24 months, it should address the acute accommodation situation.

Before then however, the University authorities say they will no longer entertain the discomforting situation for which they have often taken heaps of flak.

The University Council, which recommended that perching be made an offence from next academic year, also asked the administration to renovate various halls of residence to improve accommodation and lessen the stress on students.

According to Council Chairman, Tony Oteng Gyasi, the situation can no longer be compromised.

“The Hall Masters, the Porters, I mean this is their job and they should be checking on some of these things. But you see, at the end of the day, I don’t think that the person who goes to perch enjoys it, it is because there aren’t enough facilities and that is why we are doing this 7000-bed hostel and we are hoping that in a maximum of 24 months, it will be ready.”

The recommendation followed the University’s Visitation Panel of Scholars invited by the authorities to review its academic programmes over the last 60 years.

The Panel, tasked to examine all university issues from accommodation to course content, is chaired by the President and CEO of the Commonwealth of Learning, Sir John Daniels.

The Visitation is to be conducted more regularly, at least every 10 years, according to Oteng Gyasi, to enable the University of Ghana to compare its programmes and progress with other institutions.