It is very disturbing when men of God attempt to engage in actions informed by circumstantial expediency rather than pursuing what is morally right and just.
Not long ago when Rev. Prof. Agyepong, the current President of the Methodist University College in Dansoman, the then Vice-Chancellor of the University of Cape Coast, in a very unpopular move, administered one of the bitterest pills to students under his tutelage.
The grading system of the University which allotted grade A to students who scored 70% and above on the high side, and passed students with minimum of 45%, had to be adjusted upwardly (80% and above for A with a minimum of 50 for a pass) to bring the grading system of the university to the standard of Maryland University in the United State, an institution which wanted to partner UCC as a sister institution.
The move was very unpopular with students and some lecturers that it was fiercely resisted by the student body leading to the termination of academic work on the university campus at certain stages. As is usually the case, the voice of the master prevailed and was upheld. The polemics gradually died down and the policy was implemented with many casualties at the end of the day. Scores of students who could have passed with a comfortable second class lower were flushed out into a third class and many more settling for a pass and the unthinkable F***.
In the year 2000, the university of Cape Coast therefore turned out over 2000 students with only 9 of them distinguishing themselves in their academic endeavours with the enviable first class. Comparatively, the University of Ghana graduated close to 3000 students with about 200 of them in the first class bracket.
Many reasons were adduced by individuals and even the university authorities in informal conversations to support this bizarre development. Some attributed the low grades at the University of Cape Coast to factors such as lower entry grades implying students entering the University of Ghana normally enter with stronger or higher grades than their counterparts entering the University of Cape Coast and concomitantly come out with lower passes than their counterparts from the University of Ghana. Others attributed the situation to the very nature of the new grading system which had to alter students mark bringing down those gearing for first class to second upper and successively from upper to lower class and then from a pass to F***. Whatever the case was, we have not been able to undertake any post-implementation review of the grading system so as to be able to point out how its implementation affected students. So speculations about its effects died their natural death after the grades were forced down the throats of the unlucky first batch of graduating students (the first batch of students who graduated with the so-called Maryland marking scheme) who after violent clashes with the authorities could not halt its implementation.
What caught my attention recently is that 7 years after this raw deal was handed to the students of the University of Cape Coast who had no option than to accept it, weep over what was unfair and move on, the same Rev. Prof. Agyepong, who is also the Chairman of the African Peer Review Mechanism (APRM), presides over an academic institution that awarded 30 first classes to students out of 150 graduating students. Indeed, if entry grades are things to go by, we are all aware that entry grades for the three Public Universities are normally better than those of students who enter the private universities. The case is normally that most students who could not gain admissions to the public universities due to their weaker grades normally turned to the private universities for admissions. If it is logical that entering a university with a weaker grade predisposes one to pass out with a concomitantly weaker pass, then what has happened in the case of Methodist University? Or is it a matter of circumstantial expediency that is driving even our academic institutions, professors, and even Reverend Professors to take decisions that clearly portray them as individuals whose judgments we can no longer trust as a people?
A good friend who engaged me in a conversation throughout our six-hour flight from London on a British Airways flight last week raised the red flag on some of these pertinent national issues and I agree with him on some of the points he made, not all anyway.
He made it clear that when he used to double as a full-time lecturer at the University of Cape Coast and a part-time lecturer at one of the foremost private universities, he found it very difficult to settle in with some of the practices in the private university. According to him, in fact, he adopted the same measure of fairness in the marking of scripts from both institutions but realized his students from the private university mostly performed abysmally lower than their counterparts from the public universities. Being who he is, he awarded marks according to a fair scheme believing that that was the way to go. Interestingly, after the first semester’s work, he was invited by his head of department to meet with the chancellor of the university. The issue was the very low marks he awarded to students in his subject. When he tried vehemently to justify they hard to earn their marks from him based on their performance not because they may be failing so that he has to award them marks to pass them, he was so astonished to hear the chancellor decreed that marks below certain points are unacceptable in his institution. The justification was that he is running a private institution and that’s how he chose to run his institution. If students do not get the satisfaction in terms of grades, they may turn away from his institution and that will be a great loss to him. The interference did not stop there; they made sure grades were altered in certain instance to suit their purpose.
This situation contrast with what prevailed and may still prevail on the University of Cape Coast Campus. I remember visiting lecturers especially from the United States always having a tough time grading their students after the semester’s work. The long and short of this situation is that when these lecturers arrive, they are given the academic freedom to design and mount their own courses. The said courses are therefore taught in conformity with a scheme. But after the semester’s exams when marks are awarded to students, some heads of departments object to the marks with the excuse that some departments either do not award ‘A’ or the number of ‘As’ were too much. They make all efforts to make sure these grades are altered downwardly to the disadvantage of hardworking students. No-nonsense visiting lecturers insisted and their marks stayed; others who did not want to offend their host normally made amends to suit what was demanded by their heads of departments or the authorities. But the question still pricks my mind so many years after leaving Uni. as to whether these visiting lecturers are not worth their academic qualification and do not know their left from their right or it is just the ingrained PhD attitude of the Ghanaian that they have to put up with? I demand answers from Agyepong for this article.
Unfortunately, when students complete their programmes, who cares about the intensity of their degrees or otherwise? In a highly competitive job market, the employer is bent on getting value for money. In a search for scholarship, the donor is not particular about the strength of the input that produced the level of pass, if the cut-off point is first class for applying for a scholarship and you don’t meet it, that is it. It is your own headache to justify your inclusion elsewhere.
May I ask Rev. Prof. Agyepong, if he believes that the decision he took 7 years ago disenabling students from attaining their academic goals at the University of Cape Coast was right and just with what patterns today in the University he heads currently in mind. He should be aware that in public life when we make decisions that affect the lives of multitudes of individuals and determine their future choices, we should always be careful those actions will stand the test of time and we shall always be justified under any circumstance. The onus is even greater when we purport to be men of God.
Recently, I have been hearing the name of Rev. Prof. Agyepong in the news presiding over the meetings of the APRM. The question I then asked myself was that would this man be able to take the bull by the horn if it is necessary he speaks the bitter truth? Lo and behold, he has once again justified the fact that even those of them who professed to be God’s mouthpiece have descended so low that they are unable to serve God’s purpose truthfully anymore.
I am referring to the recent general elections in Nigeria which the international community has condemned outright as Flawed. I waited to hear the chairman of the APRM issue a statement condemning the situation in Nigeria or otherwise but not till today as I write. One then begins to wonder if this is the kind of mechanism they are hoping that the rest of Africa will accede to in the near future.
Prof., excuse me to deduct the Reverend at this point in addressing you. I hope you wouldn’t take offence; for to me, a Reverend must stand taller than you stand right now with respect to the truth.
I am glad that my country is not like our neighboring Nigeria where the loudest you sound the right you are; the level of mayhem and intimidation you can exact to put fear in the population and your political opponents, the winner you become.
Nigeria has set the pace. We are delighted the opposition parties have taken a strong reservation to what is happening in Nigeria and have individually condemned it. It should send the warning signals to the ruling party to be aware that Ghanaians will not accept anything less than a peaceful election from the ruling government. They should not create the condition for anybody to justify a coupe and derail our democratic process.
Finally, we would like the Agyepongs, the Otabils, the Asares and a host of others to take the preemptive steps to voice out on some of these issues before they become issues that will finally consume the peace of this country. They should not wait until Rawlings speaks out for them to think of reconciling him with an insensitive and greedy Kufour.
Long Live Ghana.
Ben Otoo
email: be.otoo@yahoo.co.uk
