Accra, Sept. 15, GNA - The University of Ghana, Legon, was calm on Wednesday as students who could not leave on Tuesday following the closure of the school continued to leave. Taxi drivers made brisk business as they transported students out of the campus.
Some students complained that they had no money to pay their transport fares. Students who could not beat Tuesday's 1800 hours deadline set by the Executive Committee of the University for them to leave campus, were not harassed by police. Police officers are on patrol to ensure that students leave the campus and maintain law and order.
"All is calm and there have not been any confrontation with the students," one policeman told the Ghana News Agency (GNA). Mr Wilmot Gyimah-Asumeng, Vice-President of the Students Representative Council (SRC), said students have complied with the order but called on the government to address the issue that led to the closure - high user fees - with all urgency.
He cautioned that "if students are re-called only to be asked to pay the same fees there will be another chaotic atmosphere." The university authorities on Tuesday closed the school down with immediate effect and asked all students to leave the campus by 1800 hours.
A statement said any student found on the campus after that time would be deemed to be trespassing and would be forcibly ejected. "Foreign students are exempted from this arrangement and are, therefore, expected to prove their identity on demand."
The statement said "the decision was taken in view of the current situation on campus, including acts of vandalism and destruction of university property, threats, intimidation, disruption of lectures and tearing up of students' lecture notes."
It said there "were also cases of kidnapping and molestation of an innocent student, and harassment by a group of students". Students of the university began an indefinite boycott of lectures last Wednesday to press demands for the suspension of increased university user fees announced by the government.
They have since that day been gathering in the mornings, holding forums and marching on campus, chasing out colleagues, who were in lecture halls.
The students, under the leadership of the National Union of Ghana Students (NUGS) is asking the government to provide 13 billion cedis the universities in the country would need to run this year pending the formulation of a comprehensive programme for funding tertiary education.
The government responded by setting up a three billion-cedi bursary for needy students but the students rejected it as too little. The University authorities have said they would not tolerate the disruption of the semester.
