Students at the University of Bahr el Ghazal on Tuesday staged protests over the latest tuition fees hike and called on the institution’s administration to reverse the decision.
The university has recently increased fees, triggering an outcry among students, who feel the new fees structures were too high.
The new fees structures show that a student of economics who used to pay 40,000 SSP will now pay 150,000 SSP, while a student of medicine will pay 175,000 SSP.
The University’s Deputy Vice Chancellor for Finance and Administration, Dr. Hawa Marjan, argued that the fees hike was made in order to meet the current market prices for the higher learning institution to continue operating.
Speaking to Radio Tamazuj this afternoon, several striking students called on the Vice Chancellor to step down if he cannot address their challenges and urged President Salva Kiir to intervene.
Garang Moses, one of the striking students, said: “I also appeal to the President of the Republic to come and visit the university as a chancellor of universities. I challenge him and I repeat that you come and visit the University of Bahr el Ghazal as a chancellor. The president used to come to Wau but he never visited the University of Bahr el Ghazal as a leader.”
“What is happening in public universities is supposed to be addressed by him as a chancellor. If he is not a chancellor, let him appoint a chancellor that will supervise all the public universities in the country,” he added.
David Akok, another striking student, revealed that the strike was triggered by angry students after a rally conducted in protest against the recent fees hike.
“The students’ leaders were allowed to meet the university administration on the matter but during their meeting, there was no action by the administration on the reduction of the tuition fees and this led to the strike,” he explained.
“The General Assembly has come up with the strike so that the administration can look into the issue, and the National Ministry of Higher Education should hear the voice of the students,” Akok stressed.
For his part, the University’s Acting Vice-Chancellor, Professor Dr. Peter Atem Deng, said the University Board will meet and discuss possible solutions to today’s strike.
“The position of the administration is still because we are going to conduct a Board meeting in which a decision will be out. For the claims that that the administration has increased the tuition fees, we told them that we did not increase the fees, it is just a reflection of last year,” he explained.
When asked why there is a heavy deployment of security forces around the university campus, Deng responded: “These forces were just deployed to protect the university facilities from any destruction.”
The National Ministry of High Education could not immediately be reached for comment.
University of Bahr el Ghazal is one of the public universities in South Sudan. The other institutions of higher learning include the University of Juba, Rumbek University, Dr. John Garang Memorial University of Science and Technology, and Upper Nile University.