Participants present at the conference
The International Human Rights Class of 2024/25 of the University of Ghana (UG) School of Law, has organised a press conference on students’ academic freedom as part of the year group’s project.
The event, held last Friday, was dubbed “Silencing the Mind: The Quiet War on Academic Freedom in Ghana,” and aimed to highlight the issues of student’s academic freedom violation in Ghana’s higher education institutions.
In an interview with a lecturer at the UG School of Law, Prof. Kwadwo Appiagyei-Atua mentioned that students place in academic freedom is very low, which affects the relationship between students and lecturers, even in the classroom.
“We also realise that because students place in academic freedom equation is very low, it affects the relationship between them and lectures, especially in the classroom,” he stressed.
He added that, whatever is taught in the classroom is taken into society by students, noting that when students know their rights they can use constructive means and processes to dialogue with their lecturers.
“When you know your rights, you use constructive means. You realise that there are certain processes and channels that you have to use, so that constructive approach is to enable students to dialogue with their lecturers, to let them know where their gaps are, and then to enable the lecturers to sit up and realise that there are problems,” he explained.
The Vice President of the International Human Rights Class of 2024/25, Kingsley Ottu Amponsah, in an interview, explained that academic freedom is a way to help students express their knowledge and contribution to academic work freely, but not a way to armour students against lecturers.
He said “rather than seeing it as a way to armour students against lecturers, see it as a way to help students express their knowledge, express what they came to school to do.”
He further questioned the importance of education when there is the limit to freedom of expression of knowledge.
“The main purpose of education is to give us freedom, to allow us to freely express our knowledge, freely express the things on our hearts basically. If you are inhibiting or limiting these things, then what is the purpose of our education at all?” he quizzed.
He stressed that the university should be an independent body which should not be run by political parties.
“Education should not be run by political parties. There are so many forms of influence that come through on these governmental institutions, which is very wrong,” he added.
By Florence Asamoah Adom