Ban ethnic student unions on campuses

…Prof Agyekum suggests to school heads
Posted: The Chronicle | Wednesday, November 11, 2009

By Charles Takyi - Boadu




A Senior Linguistics Lecturer at the University of Ghana, Legon, Professor Kofi Agyekum has expressed concern over the proliferation of ethnic student unions on campuses of the various levels of education in the country, particularly at the Senior High Schools and the Universities.
He believes the existence of such groups in the country’s schools give credence to the occasional ethnic violence that is witnessed across the length and breadth of Ghana, since it tends to breed division instead of unity.

In an exclusive interview with The Chronicle, Professor Agyekum (Opanin Agyekum) noted that if the issue of ethnicity is not handled with care, it could plunge the entire nation into chaos. Though he admitted that there is nothing wrong with one associating with where he or she comes from, it becomes a problem “when the practice is carried to the schools”.

“My fear is that it is infiltrating into our tertiary institutions and the secondary schools level, where there are the mushrooming of ethnic groupings, such as Ashanti Students Union, Volta Students Union, Brong Ahafo Students Union, Western Students Union and a host of other such ethnic students’ unions”, he said.

Prof. Agyekum argued that the situation breeds the proliferation of more sub-ethnic groups such as the Sekyere Students Union, Amansie Students Union, Navrongo Students Union, among others.

This, according to him, “is a bad precedence that is being set’, and he asked rhetorically –”if we go on like this, how can we also guarantee that our lecturers will not be ethnocentric, and if you get a lecturer who is so ethnocentric, how is he going to look at the work of other students who are not from his ethnic group?” For this reason, the learned fellow said “I think its better we start to put an end to this phenomenon before it degenerates into something else.’

Asked about whether the existing ethnic student unions on the various campuses should be banned, the Legon Don responded in the affirmative. At the secondary school levels where much power is vested in the Headmaster, Assistant Headmaster and Senior Housemasters, he noted it is possible to nip the canker in the bud.

He wondered whether same could be said and done at the tertiary level, since according to him “at the University, the students are matured and know their rights”, wondering how the Students Representative Council (SRC) of a University would easily succumb to taking away the freedom of association of students.”

He noted that institutions like the media, churches, the National Commission for Civic Education (NCCE) and the National Peace Council (NPC) of which the Linguistics lecturer is a member, could help to sensitise and educate Ghanaians on how dangerous the issue of ethnicity could become, if not handled with the care it deserves.