EDUCATION: A’Ibom commissioner expels students over protest

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The Commissioner for Health, Akwa Ibom State, Dr. Dominic Ukpong, has expelled five students of the state School of Health Technology, Etinan.

Our correspondent learnt that the students were invited by the commissioner for discussion on Wednesday over the lingering crisis in the school.

Students of the school had been protesting the hike in their tuition fees.

It was gathered that the students were asked by the commissioner to sign an undertaking that they would not take part in further protests at the school.

One of the leaders of the students’ union of the school, Joe Friday, said the commissioner became annoyed when they (students) refused to sign the undertaking.

Friday said that the commissioner subsequently gave letters of expulsion to him and the other students, adding that they all refused to collect them.

He said, “The issue is that we wanted a reversal of the school fees to what we were paying before. The ministry asked us to come for dialogue but when we got there, we discovered that we were invited for another thing, not for school fees.

“We were asked to sign an undertaking that we were not going to cause trouble in the school if we are allowed to remain in the institution.

“But when we refused to sign the undertaking, the commissioner said that we were insolent and we stood rusticated from the school. The news of our rustication was even broadcast in the state’s owned radio station, Akwa Ibom Broadcasting Corporation,” he said.

Other students affected include Ekanem Ezekiel, Ekanem Okon, Ekpo Inyang, and Paul Emmanuel.

He explained that under the new fees, fresh students (indigenes) are to pay N74,000 as against N36,850 while non-indigenes are to pay N81,300 though they were paying N36,850 before the hike.

As for returning students, he said they are to pay N41,500 as against N13,350 per student.

When contacted, Ukpong said that our correspondent had no right to call him directly on the issue.

He said, “Did you get this from my information officer? Talk to my information officer. You can’t call me directly and begin to talk to me,” he said.

However, the information officer in the ministry sent our correspondent a text saying, “When did the commissioner become the school’s principal to start expelling students? Please, answer me.”

The Coalition of Human Rights Defenders, Akwa Ibom State chapter, has blamed the state ministry of health for undue interference in the school’s activities.

The convener of the coalition, Inibehe Effiong, said the students had the right to agitate against any cause inimical to their study, adding that the state government had no right to expel the students for seeking a reduction in their tuition fees.

He said, “What the students are seeking for is a reversal of their school fees to what obtained before and nothing more. It is unimaginable that students could be punished over this action.”



Source: Punch News

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