By Hajaratu Kalokoh
The University of Sierra Leone (USL) says there has been no increase in fees for any of its constituent colleges, following public outcry that fees had gone up.
USL in a statement signed by its Registrar, Olive Barrie, says: “The government directs that Tuition fees should not be increased in the university and the management of the University of Sierra Leone strictly abides by that.”
But in spite of the assurance, a breakdown of ‘administrative’ charges imposed by the university increases the total amount students will have to pay for the 2019/2020 academic year.
The charges that include Library use, examination, ICT and medical means that students will now have to pay Le1, 053, 750 (US$ 100) in addition to their different tuition fees.
For example, a 2nd year Bachelor of Arts student at Fourah Bay College will now have to pay a tital of Le 3, 226,440 ($322), while a 2nd year Financial Accounting student at IPAM will now have to pay Le 3,579, 940 ($350) for the 2019/2020 academic year.
The student union body at the Institute of Public Administration and Management (IPAM), one of the constituent colleges of USL, raised concern over the development. In a statement signed by student president, Alpha Kabba, the union said: “The inclusion of these charges is going to contribute to many students dropping out of their course work. How can you institute Free Quality Education at Primary and Secondary education and increase the fees in universities?
“This action is completely counterproductive,” the statement said.
The FBC student’s body also expressed concern over the issue. Its President, Augustine Bonah, said they were negotiating with the university authorities to see how they could reduce the charges.
On Thursday the Ministry of Technical and Higher Education weighed in on the matter. Deputy Minister Turad Senesie appeared to agree with the students that the situation amounted to an increment in fees. He told journalists at the weekly government press briefing that the university did not consult with the government before taken the decision which had been reversed.
But for the IPAM- SUG, tuition fee is not their only concern. They also have issues with the university administration about examination grades of students and how they have been handled by college authorities.
In the same statement that was released on November 8th, the IPAM student body called on students to boycott classes until grades and promotional lists for all classes were published.
“Subject to the published time table for students to start lectures for the 2019/2020 academic year, the IPAM students union government implores all students to stay away from campus until these issues below are looked into (i) All grades should be published for both first and Second Semester examinations respectively before the reopening of University (ii) Promotional Lists for all programmes should be published before reopening of University (III) Reference Examinations for all modules should be conducted immediately before the reopening of university (iv) Students who wrote for remark of their scripts should be done and their deserving grades published before reopening of University,” the statement read.
Lectures at IPAM were supposed to resume last Tuesday, 12 November. But like in other colleges, classes did not start.
Sara Mannah Sesay, a final year student in the Business Administration Department at IPAM, explained to Politico that it is a common practice for the college to withhold examination grades till the middle of the following academic year.
“They do not want to release our grades and promotion list. That is their usual habit. For us at Business Administration Department, we have only seen first semester grades. Sometimes students will promote to another level by themselves then later when grades are out some will end up repeating. Other departments like Financial Service has not even got their first semester grades,” she lamented.
Last month, students at FBC raised similar concerns over publication of grades. Their concern was that college authorities had slated a date for re-sit of examination without publishing grades that to show who are supposed to join those re-siting the exams.
University authorities have since budged. The reopening of colleges has been pushed to November 25th.
The University administration said it intended to complete a number of issues before re-opening, including the display of pass list for 2018/2019 academic year for all fully paid and registered students, and the issuance of academic transcripts for paid up and registered students.
The university has already lost over a month in its regular academic calendar due to the delay.
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