By Fasalie Sulaiman Kamara
Public relations officer of the National Union of Sierra Leone Students has warned that some 4,000 students, about 60% of Fourah Bay College may repeat as a result of some “new administrative policies”.
Speaking to Politico after the cancellation by students’ warden of a meeting scheduled earlier by some ‘concerned students’, Thomas Moore Conteh said they had been invited as apparent body to listen to the concerns of the students at FBC .
He added that prior to the aborted meeting some of the issues already being discussed included “the total cancellation of re-sit examinations and the review upwards of about 150% in college fees”.
A student, who claimed to be the chairman of the concerned students and spoke on condition of anonymity, said “there are policies adopted by the administration which are not favorable to the general student body”, noting that the re-sit policy and increment in fees were the most biting.
“Fourah Bay College is a university in which everything is paid for and nothing is seen”, the chairman complained, adding that students paid for ID cards, damages, medical, computers and none of which was provided.
He called for either the refund of money paid by students for services that were not being provided by the administration or a commitment to serve the student body.
“The increment in fees would have been gradual and not imposed in the manner in which it was done”, he said, adding that the FBC administration should have consulted with the students on the cancellation of re-sit exams and the increment of fees.
“This is not reasonable. In the absence of a student union government, the concerned students will try to negotiate with the administration on these issues”, he assured, but warned that if the administration failed to listen to them, they would resort to peaceful protest or call on the government to intervene.
Meanwhile, the warden of students, Reverend Canon Jenner Buck told Politico that he had to stop the meeting being planned on campus because the students failed to seek permission for such gatherings, thereby going against the rules and regulations of the university.
The warden said the said concerned students had no legitimacy because there was no student authority to organize press conferences.
“The administration spent about Le19 million to organize students’ elections”, but the students could not allow the elections to hold.
He called on students to wait until the next election calendar for any student union elections to be installed.
The warding said that he has however discussed with the concern students and he will take their concerns to the administration.
Meanwhile, the examinations officer at FBC, Munda Lebbie, told Politico that the said rules and regulations were not new, especially those having to do with students not being allowed to carry along their “trailers” beyond year three.
“If students in the first two years failed one or two modules they could be allowed to promote to the next class but certainly not into the third year. We want to discourage students who failed more than two modules to proceed to the next class and eventually spend more than three years in the final year just to clear those trailers,” he said.
He said the number of students who failed should not bother anyone if the college were to ensure quality in the students that eventually graduate from the university.
© Politico 12/11/13
