ACADEMIC WORK was impeded at the Kumasi Polytechnic on Monday morning when angry students went berserk over how their Students’ Representative Council (SRC) had been managing their money.
The students accused the SRC leadership of not being transparent with regard to the management and spending of the council’s money so they (students) decided to embark on a massive demonstration in the school.
Wearing red armbands and singing war songs, the entire student body blocked all entry points to the school as they marched through the school’s premises holding placards with inscriptions which demanded accountability from the SRC leaders.
Even though the unannounced demonstration was peaceful, the school authorities, who feared for the worse, quickly called in armed policemen who rushed to the school to protect life and property.
It emerged that the demonstration prevented students from writing a mid-semester examination which was scheduled to take place on that day. Reports indicated that the school authorities postponed the examinations to next week.
Charles Obeng Sarpong, Communications Director of K-Poly, told a section of the press that the manner in which the SRC leadership organised this year’s annual SRC Week sparked the peaceful demonstration.
He confirmed that all routes leading to the school were blocked by the students so even lecturers and other staff of the school could not get access to the school and were therefore compelled to park their vehicles outside the school.
Mr Sarpong said the leadership of the demonstrators, in a hurriedly arranged meeting with the school’s leadership, said the 2016 SRC Week lasted for just four days instead of seven days as was usually the case.
He added that there was no programme outline for the SRC Week, no refreshment for the students and souvenirs which were usually distributed to the students during SRC Week celebrations were not given out this time.
Mr Sarpong added that the school’s management had ordered the aggrieved students to write their grievances to the Dean of Students for investigation and onward resolution of the matter, stressing that normalcy had been restored at the school.
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