The management of Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) has clarified that the Council of the institution has not abolished the Junior Common Room (JCR) system of hall management on the university campus.

According to the management, students who are no longer residents of a hall will not participate in the election of executives for the hall.

This comes on the back of concerns that the University Council had taken a decision that halls will no longer have elected students as executives from the 2023/2024 academic year to manage hall activities in a bid to address clashes on the campus.

“Let us have the first years who are occupants of the hall elect their leaders in collaboration with the hall management–this is simply what the council is saying. It is not saying they do not want student participation,” says KNUST Relations Officer, Dr. Daniel Norris Bekoe.

He added that the management of the various halls have been modified.

“[The JCR system] has not been banned. The only thing is that there is a modification to it. Council is just saying that, let those who are residents of the halls be the ones to man the activities of the halls.”

Meanwhile, the University Students’ Association of Ghana (USAG) wants security at the University of Ghana and KNUST campuses to be intensified.

According to the president of USAG, Christian Ntsiful Anderson, such a move will aid in maintaining sanity on the various campuses.

“The security system in our campuses should be strengthened. If it is about getting more personnel or the IGP is going to build more police stations on our campuses to ensure that security is well protected, I think that will really help with the situation we find ourselves in.”

Some student leaders at the KNUST have warned that certain decisions by the University’s Council, following recent clashes between students of University Hall (Katanga) and Unity Hall (Conti), will further threaten peace in the University community.