A civil society activist in Western Bahr el Ghazal State has called for the reopening of the University of Bahr el Ghazal which was closed in October last year after staff downed tools to demand 12 months’ salary arrears, medical allowances, and air ticket arrears.
The staff were only paid one month’s salary arrears and continued with the strike leading to the institution’s closure to date.
Reacting to the institution’s long closure, a civil society activist, Stephen Robo Musa, who doubles as the state coordinator for the Community Empowerment for Progress Organization (CEPO), said the closure of the university will negatively impact the student’s future.
“This closure has a great setback to the future of the young generation because it affects them and they do not know when the university will reopen. It is not affecting only the students but it also affects the whole generation,” he said. “These are our future leaders and if they do not have access to education it is very bad, this is why we are calling on the government to pay the salaries of the teaching staff such that they resume lectures.”
Robo appealed to the state government to listen to the voices of teachers and commit to paying salaries, incentives, and the requirements of lecturers in the state so that they can return to work.
The activist also encouraged the students not to lose hope and to have a spirit of commitment, continuity, persistence, patience and not surrender because knowledge is the key to everything.
When contacted, the head of the Academic Staff Union at the University of Bahr el Ghazal, Joseph Lual Dario, said the university will reopen if the government embarks on paying the one-year salary areas.
“Last Friday, we met to discuss how the university can reopen but we found that there were a lot of challenges that needed to be addressed. Among these challenges was the issue of payment of one-year salaries arrears which we are demanding,” he explained. “The level of the challenges requires the national government to intervene and provide a solution to these problems. We did not agree on the date of reopening the university but the University Senate will sit and come up with the institution’s calendar year and also determine on required solutions to the problems.”
The lecturer revealed that last year, university employees were unable to send their children to schools and the same thing will be difficult for them to do this year. He added that the university has lost many workers due to the current economic situation and appealed to the government to find solutions.