By Mohamed Jaward Nyallay
Hundreds of Fourah Bay College students protesting on Monday 14 March against the college’s administration of tuition fees and handling of registration processhave called for a complete change in the current governance system.
A state house communication released last night called on the ministry of education, the college authorities and representatives of the student body to a meeting today to address the concerns. The press release “advised students to exercise patience while their concerns are being addressed.”
Yesterday the students’ attempt to march to the President’s office was halted a short distance from State House, after armed police personnel stopped them near the headquarters of the Police Criminal Investigation Department on Pademba Road.
The protesting students wanted to express their frustration about the college administration’s handling of a number of issues, including tuition fees payment and registration procedure. The protest was sparked by the college’s decision last week to send home students who had not paid their fees and had not registered for this first semester of the academic year.
According to officials, only 3 percent of freshmen [new students] had paid their fees in full or registered before last week’s decision. But the college administration was also concerned that even among continuing students, very few had paid their fees or registered.
Protest organiser and student ShekuTejan Kamara blamed it all on the administration which he said had failed to provide the right services for students. And because of this he said they wanted the administration to be changed.
They had particularly called for the resignation of the college’s principal, Professor Sahr Gbamanja, who is also Deputy Vice Chancellor of the University of Sierra Leone. FBC is one of three constituent colleges of the university.
“We want a change in administration of Fourah Bay College; they are part of the bigger problem,” said Kamara, who led the hundreds of students on a march through the streets of Freetown leading from the FBC campus to State House.
The students have a range of issues, from shortage of classrooms, lack of respect for students by staff, to poor service delivery by the administration.
These concerns and messages were written and displayed on their placards during Monday’s protest.
Some of them read: “DVC must go,” ‘Students want more’, ‘bring back our hostels’, and ‘My parent cannot afford US$9, 000’.
The US$9, 000 is in reference to a statement attributed to Professor Gbamanja who reportedly told some students that he did not know why they were complaining about the small fees they were paying at the FBC when he was paying US$9, 000 for his kid in some western university.
The professor declined to talk to Politico when he was approached.
He instead referred us to the Public Relation Officer of the USL, Munda Rogers, who said they had fixed three deadlines already for students to register for this semester. He said students had failed to meet all of deadlines.
The college has also published a notice suspending all classes for two weeks until students pay 50% of the fees for the academic year.
However, many students have dismissed this two weeks deadline as insufficient, citing especially the slow registration process at the college even after paying tuition.
The suspension of classes by the FBC administration in an already short academic year is also a major concern for the students. But Rogers said the two weeks would be complemented and therefore the semester would be prolonged by another two weeks.
At the protest, 10 of the organizers were taken to State House by government officials to engage with authorities. However, after hours of engagement the head of the protesting students, ShekuTejan Kamara, told Politico that he was not satisfied with the engagement.
“I am not satisfied with the engagement we had with the presidential representatives. There is a political undertone in all of this because [Mohamed] Sheridan [Kamara] was not a member of the ten man delegation but he barged in to the meeting and said something completely different to our cause,” Tejan Kamara told Politico.
Mohamed Sheridan Kamara is the president of the National Union of Sierra Leone Students (NUSS). But some students have in the past challenged the legitimacy of his leadership at national student body, mostly because he is no longer a student of any tertiary institution in the country.
Monday’s protest had started immediately after a press conference organised by the NUSS, whose leadership appears to be taking a softer stance than the general students body seem to appreciate.
After that press conference, the NUSS leadership went into a meeting with the DVC. According to sources in that meeting, the FBC authorities insisted that students must pay their fees and register for the semester within the slated deadline.
Nonetheless, authorities at State House promised to look into the concerns of the protesters, according to Tejan Kamara.
And the situation could get worse for students who have not paid for the previous academic year, because Roger, the USL PRO, said students who did not pay their fees last year must pay in full for that year and 50% of this year’s.
Rogers also dismissive students’ concern about slow registration.
There are only two offices within the Finance Department at the college, with less than a dozen staff. They are responsible to coordinate the processing of receipts for about 7000 students.
“I do not consider that as an excuse,” Rogers told Politico.
The protest organizers said they would meet and decide on a way forward following the State House meeting.
Fourah Bay College is the oldest higher learning institution at tertiary level in West Africa. It celebrated its 189 years anniversary a few weeks ago. FBC have produced many graduate for many countries in the sub-region, and this way it earned its unofficial tag as the Athens of West Africa. Before the Gambia had its first university in 1997, the bulk of college students were sent to FBC, many of whom today hold high positions in government in that country.
But over the years, the college has seen this attribute of a source of quality education go down the drain. Who shoulders the responsibility is a matter of a continuing debate.
(C) Politico 15/03/16
