Accommodation Wahala; The Plight Of Students At UEW, South Campus

Students in private rented accommodation at the University of Education, Winneba (South Campus) have been encountering difficulties with the condition of their place of abode.

The best academic motivation for any student anywhere is to have suitable accommodation facilities with conducive environment to facilitate learning.

However, the direct opposite is what pertains on the South Campus of UEW where helpless students have been left to their fate. These students live in abject squalor of accommodation, which seriously affects their ability to live comfortably and study towards making good grades for their future.

The issue of accommodation on any University campus is one of the important factors that ought to be considered, as far as the academic success of a student is concerned.

Getting an apartment on campus, or hostels from out of campus to provide for peaceful and secured atmosphere for studies, to the student of the South Campus, is like searching for a needle in a haystack, and this has been the plight of many students.

This seems to be a situation that leaders and Members of Parliament have not really shown serious concern to, and this is something that seems not to leave the lips of students, who are very distressed and go through a lot in getting a place to lay their heads.

Students confronted with this challenge are those living around the Central Campus, South Campus and its environs. Accommodation for students should be the priority of every ruling government, but I bet to say that, it is very different when it comes to the government of Ghana and exercising its responsibilities towards the people.

Many government ministers who are in influential positions have promised to fast-track the provision of multi-purpose student accommodation facilities.

If we can get students out of private rental accommodation into multi-purpose student residences, we will free up considerable space for people competing for limited rental properties.

But it seems to me more of talking and less action is what we see. The university campuses are still bereft of adequate accommodation facilities.

Most times, I become very worried when school is about to reopen, not because of the sumptuous meals or the lovely family and friends I will be missing, but rather about the discomfited hostel I will be living in for next semester and beyond.

My question is, are students of the University of Education, especially those at the South Campus, going to live in private apartments (native houses) and wooden structures till the second coming of Christ. Is there no hope for me and my colleague students?

I am not sure I will be voting in the general elections come December 7th, 2016, because I think there is no point voting for leaders who will not solve my problem, though I am a patriotic citizen and it is my legitimate right as a good citizen of Ghana to exercise my franchise.

I want to know if it is the sole responsibility of the school administration to provide hostels for students to live in? If it is the responsibility of the school and government, then I want to say that we are not being treated fairly, as compared to other students.

I think that Students at the University of Education, Winneba (South Campus) have completely been ignored, as far as Infrastructural developments are concerned.

Aspiring parliamentary candidates vying for seats in the legislative house in the coming general election should raise the deserved changes that students of the University of Education, Winneba (South Campus) want to see, otherwise students appetite for voting will be killed.

We look for hope over the horizon and call on political leadership and the university authorities to come to our aid once and for all. This suffering must end!