Polytechnic Students On Hunger Strike

The leadership of the Ghana Union Polytechnic Students’ (GNUPS) has declared a three-day hunger strike, starting from Tuesday. The hunger strike is in support of their demands for the immediate withdrawal of the recently introduced polytechnic grading system. This latest action follows the apparent failure of a three-month boycott of lectures to get the educational authorities to respond to their demands.

While staging the hunger strike hundreds of polytechnic students from all over the country have been invited to Accra to march to the seat of the Presidency to present a petition to the acting President Peter Ala Adjetey.

GNUPS President Rashid Yakubu told JOY FM that he and his colleagues are prepared to risk their lives for the withdrawal of the controversial grading system. The GNUPS leadership has appealed to the public and policy makers to intervene and appeal to government to respond positively to their petition, which highlights problems facing students pursuing polytechnic education in the country.

The students say they would be prepared to return to the classroom and resume negotiations if government shows commitment to the suspension of the new performance grading system. The students have described the new pass mark of 50 per cent and above as too high.