UEW final year students ‘go wild’, protest over GPA issues

Some final year students at the University of Education – Winneba are protesting what they say are disparities between results on the school’s online system and notice boards. Sources at the school indicate that students are unhappy about the inability of school management to determine their various classes, although they have completed most courses and received their marks and transcripts for same. This, comes following earlier protests in September, when students had to be dispersed by police after they protested discrepancies in their results posted online and on the university’s notice boards. The students, who were disappointed about the cancellation of a scheduled meeting between level 400s and management to resolve the issues, broke some sign posts and tree branches and blocked some roads on campus. Ahead of what they say are their final papers, some final-year students are protesting again, citing the inability to determine their final marks as the reason. The students say the school system for checking grades, which was the notice board, has been upgraded such that students now have to log into a portal to access their grades, but the grades they have received, which were previously posted on the notice boards, differ from those on the school’s portal. They are therefore protesting and refusing to take the last paper with the belief that school authorities will go with the new grades on the portals once they complete their final papers. According to them, this will not be a true reflection of their performance, which had been captured in the printed results previously posted on the notice boards. A source on campus told GhanaWeb that people who tried to capture the protests on campus have had their phones destroyed by the protestants. Meanwhile, management has released a statement to staff and teachers urging them to remain calm and be cautious. The brief statement available to GhanaWeb indicated that the face-to-face end-of-semester exams have temporarily been suspended. “In view of the on-going demonstration by the students, staff are kindly entreated to remain calm and stay at home. Those already on campus should plan their movements. We advise Colleagues to leave office or stay locked. The face to face end-of-semester examinations are temporarily suspended for now until we hear from Management,” a message from Professor Dandy George Dampson, Faculty of Educational Studies said. Watch the latest episode of The Lowdown below: WA/BOG