The committee set by the National Ministry of Higher Education to resolve the impasse between students and the administration of the University of Bahr el Ghazal has said the institution should reopen and students should pay the new tuition fee structure proposed by the management.
Last month, the University of Bahr el Ghazal in Wau was shut down following a misunderstanding between the students and the administration over the increment of the tuition fees.
However, last week, a delegation headed by the undersecretary at the Ministry of Higher Education, Dr. Adil Anthanasio, arrived in Wau to resolve the matter. Dr. Anthanasio said his committee delivered two ministerial orders from Higher Education Minister Gabriel Minister Chanson Chang which ordered the immediate reopening of the university and maintaining the new fee structure proposed by the managers of the institution.
“I have been delegated by the minister, the chairperson of the National Council for Higher Education to come and address some challenges facing the University of Bahr el Ghazal. We have two ministerial orders to be disseminated to the administration, the students, and to the state government,” he declared. “The committee came as a result of consultative meetings that took place in Juba and which were attended by vice-chancellors, legislators, and other stakeholders. We made a comparative analysis concerning the fees and we thought that let us come and disseminate these things I am carrying as the undersecretary.”
“The ministerial order is that the new general admission fees that are SSP 125,000 SSP for arts students and 175,000 for sciences is going to remain but can be paid in three installments,” Dr. Anthanasio added.
He said after being told about the ministerial order, the students were divided with some supporting and others against it.
“We appeal to the students to accept this until it is reviewed. Some are supportive while others are opposing it,” Dr. Anthanasio said. “Some of the students also have other challenges but we need them to be addressed administratively through the Dean of Students Affairs.”
For his part, the University of Bahr el Ghazal Vice Chancellor Dr. Victor Loku welcomed the two orders.
“The two orders were clear. They declare the opening of the university with the proposed tuition fees recommended by the administration which was compared with the fees at other universities and it (fees) was in the right range,” he said. “The students were allowed to speak and they unanimously rejected the ministerial order for the reopening of the university and registration of the students. So now, since the students were talking as a mob, we decided that according to the ministerial order, we are going to request the students to come and register so that we can open the university.”
The vice chancellor pointed out that the university administration will not further delay the reopening of the university as it is already lagging according to the academic schedule.
“We are not going to delay reopening the university because we have already delayed. We were supposed to open the new academic year on 24 August,” Dr. Loku said. “First of all, we would like the students to go and register so that the teaching staff can present the results for supplementary (exams) which were distorted. And then the senate will have to decide on the results so that we plan for a new timetable for the new academic calendar which is now delayed.”
We are requesting them (students) as our sons and daughters to come so that we do not delay the (program) of the university,” the don added.