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  • Gunshots Erupt as Police Break Up Student Protests in Ghana

    Gunshots Erupt as Police Break Up Student Protests in Ghana

    Students Stand Up for Quality Education in Tamale Amid Protests

    In a scene that unfolded under the scorching sun of northern Ghana, students of Tamale Technical University took to the streets, their voices melding into a chorus of discontent. Their grievances were clear: an increase in tuition fees that they deemed excessive and a perceived lack of accountability from university authorities regarding infrastructure and welfare issues. The situation escalated quickly, as police were reported to have fired warning shots to disperse the crowd, highlighting the tension brewing between young advocates for education and the institutions meant to serve them.

    A Call for Change

    As the protest gathered momentum, student leaders articulated the frustrations that had long been simmering beneath the surface. “We are not just fighting for lower fees; we are fighting for our right to quality education,” declared a visibly emotional student leader during the rally. “The Ghanaian constitution guarantees us this right, and we are demanding that our voices be heard.”

    This rallying cry resonates in a country where higher education has increasingly become a privilege overshadowed by economic constraints. According to recent statistics, nearly 25% of Ghanaian students believe that the cost of education is rising faster than their family’s ability to pay, creating a barrier to upward mobility and personal development.

    Protests Across Ghana: A National Trend?

    The unrest in Tamale is not an isolated incident. Across Ghana, protests surrounding the cost of education have become a regular occurrence. From peaceful marches in Accra to confrontations on campuses, students are expressing their discontent with what they perceive as ongoing negligence by educational authorities. As fees soar and facilities languish in disrepair, a critical question emerges: Are Ghana’s educational institutions equipped to meet the demands of a modern workforce, and are they prioritizing students’ needs?

    • Tuition fees have increased by an average of 15% in the last academic year.
    • Over half of students at public universities reported dissatisfaction with the quality of services received in exchange for their fees.
    • Infrastructure on campuses, like libraries and laboratories, often fails to meet the standard expected in contemporary education.

    The repercussions of such unrest extend beyond the immediate frustrations of the students. They tap into a broader dialogue about the future of Ghanaian education as part of a global narrative. What does it mean to invest in education in an age where technology and innovation are changing the landscape of work at an unprecedented pace? The investment in educational infrastructure is not merely about buildings; it is about laying the groundwork for a nation’s future, one student at a time.

    Voices from the Ground

    Amid the clamor of protest, there were moments that reminded observers of the human element behind the statistics. One student, who preferred to remain anonymous, shared, “I am here for my younger siblings. I want them to have opportunities I didn’t have. It’s about giving the next generation the chance to excel.” This sentiment illustrates the interconnectedness of families and communities in the struggle for educational equity.

    As the dust settles in Tamale, the echoes of these voices continue to ring loud and clear. Are the pleas of these students—who will soon become the engineers, doctors, and leaders of Ghana—falling on deaf ears? Will educational authorities take swift action to ensure that the principles enshrined in the constitution are not just words on paper but a lived reality for all students?

    The Path Forward

    In light of the recent protests, the Ghanaian government faces a pivotal moment. The challenges outlined by the students—escalating fees, poor infrastructure, and perceived mismanagement—call for immediate interventions that foster dialogue between students and educational administrators. Universities must engage more collaboratively with students, acknowledging their role as a critical partner in shaping the future of educational excellence.

    As many countries grapple with similar challenges in higher education, the developments in Tamale may offer lessons worth noting. The global community watches as Ghanaian students rise to the occasion, embodying the spirit of activism and advocacy that has sparked movements worldwide.

    In conclusion, the protests at Tamale Technical University shine a spotlight not only on local issues but also on a larger mandate for educational reform within Ghana. The investment in education must reflect the aspirations of students and the realities of global competitiveness. As we step into an uncertain future, it becomes imperative to ask: Are we ready to listen to the voices demanding change?

    By Omer Aden
    Axadle Times international–Monitoring.

  • tensions in Kinshasa after a student was killed

    tensions in Kinshasa after a student was killed

    The students have been trying to demonstrate since Monday morning after the murder on Friday of one of their comrades by a police officer. Two of the police officers involved were arrested, the third, the shooter, is on the run. But that was not enough to calm the students’ anger. There are clashes around the University of Kinshasa.

    With our special correspondent in Kinshasa, Sonia Rolley

    On Monday morning, collisions first broke out between the bullets, thugs from working-class neighborhoods and students trying to leave the campus. The bullets loaded, threw stones, dismantled the temporary barricades erected by the students and brought them back to the police side, which remained.

    For the students, it is obvious that the bullets and the police worked together. The head of police operations present at the scene denied it and made sure to stay behind the bullets so as not to aggravate the situation. After dismissals on social networks and the media, the bullets disappeared and the police were in the front line.

    There was a brief silence when the police agreed to release the arrested students. Until the police faced a river of rocks. The police protect themselves with shields, charge by throwing tear gas and withdraw regularly. This attitude is unbearable for the students. “They killed one of us, we should have the right to protest, we prevent it as in Kabila’s time, ”laments one of them. RFI could see that there was minor damage on both sides.

    A reinforcement car arrived and the police were sent out without violence and released the axes. Traffic could be resumed at 2.30 pm local time. Students who have since been locked in classrooms around the university have been able to join their parents.

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  • a student killed by a police officer in Kinshasa, a

    a student killed by a police officer in Kinshasa, a

    A student was shot to death on Saturday, July 24 in Kinshasa by a police officer after a check went wrong.

    On Saturday afternoon, in the Liberation District of Selembao commune, a group of students film as part of a practical work when a police officer approaches them for the first time to ask them for bribes, an eyewitness reports. “We gave him 3,000 F and he left. After 15 minutes, he returned with his colleagues. He started threatening, tearing off the equipment, this witness says. The assistant then went to negotiate but to our surprise he was arrested. When the students saw this, they decided to make a demand. ”

    The tension is rising. One of the policemen then asks the students to disperse, but they refuse. “After the refusal, this is where there is a policeman … He started firing. He fired a bullet at an empty distance. He fired two more bullets and the student fell into place. There came the population, the police fled and there you have it,” he says. this witness.

    In a statement, the police do not talk about attempted bribery. According to the police, the agents really wanted to check the permission to shoot, but that’s because they could not produce the document that the assistant then took … angrily the students throw projectiles at the police. It is by wanting to shoot a warning ball on the ground, ruthlessly, according to this press release, that the student is hit in the stomach. Police are currently on the run after abandoning their weapons and uniforms.

    On Sunday morning, Commissioner Sylvano Kasongo Kitenge condemns “with the utmost energy that this police force is blinding too much”. He assures us that the fleeing police will be arrested to stand trial. His colleagues and his master have already been arrested to determine their possible involvement. According to him, one of the policemen is seriously injured in the head after the population set fire to the police station. He now urges students to be calm.

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  • a pupil and the previous hostage in Afaka testify about her

    a pupil and the previous hostage in Afaka testify about her

    Kidnapping is on the rise in Nigeria. About thirty Afaka college students, kidnapped two months in the past, have been lastly reunited with their households two days in the past. One among these former hostages, Fatima, who was pregnant throughout the kidnapping, instructed RFI a Hausa concerning the ordeal they have been subjected to throughout their captivity.

    Their torment started instantly after their kidnapping, in response to this younger pupil. She tells the microphone to our colleague Aminu Sadi Sano, how their catchers had pushed them away at full pace from the world the place they’d caught them.

    “We walked for virtually two hours in the midst of the forest earlier than we joined the group of male college students. We walked one other two hours earlier than reaching a spot the place our jail guards had parked their bikes. After that we rode for 2 hours on their bikes. ”

    Lengthy compelled marches, uninterrupted beatings, day by day brutalities … Fatima then returns to the ordeal she endured throughout her two months in captivity: “Sure, we suffered, I have no idea easy methods to describe it, however we now have suffered rather a lot. I’ve by no means been this lengthy since I used to be born. As well as, they attacked us on a regular basis. Typically they hit us with sticks, typically with their butts or no matter. They have been particularly violent once they couldn’t contact our mother and father to demand a ransom. It made them indignant they usually beat us. I used to be two months pregnant, however with every part I went by, I missed and misplaced my child. ”

    Many different younger college students are nonetheless being held hostage on this state of northwestern Nigeria, together with sixteen from Greenfield College who have been kidnapped on April 20. Their households are dwelling in anxiousness, whereas 5 of their comrades have already been shot lifeless by their jail guards.

    ► Learn additionally: Nigeria: wave of kidnappings of college students hits throughout the nation

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  • The wave of pupil kidnappings impacts every thing

    The wave of pupil kidnappings impacts every thing

    In Nigeria, kidnappings are on the rise. A number of universities are actually taking measures to make sure the security of their college students, scale back working hours or shut dormitories. Whereas about 30 college students had been launched on Wednesday, Could 5, within the state of Kaduna, others are nonetheless prisoners.

    as reported from Lagos,Liza Fabbian

    After two months in jail, the 27 college students kidnapped in Afaka on March 11, 2021, had been lastly reunited with their households on Friday, after their launch was introduced on Wednesday, Could 5, by the Kaduna State authorities. Ten different of their comrades had already been launched after their households paid the ransom.

    Households are nervous

    However different adolescents are nonetheless being held hostage in Kaduna State: 16 college students from Greenfield College who had been kidnapped on April 20 are nonetheless being held. Their household worries are robust, whereas 5 of their comrades have already been shot lifeless by their jail guards, however the native governor desires to be rigid within the face of the calls for of the armed teams – Nasir El Rufai strictly applies a “no negotiation, no redemption” coverage – no negotiation , no ransom and advocates the robust technique towards kidnappers.

    Within the southern a part of the nation as properly

    This wave of kidnappings isn’t simply restricted to northwestern Nigeria. At the tip of the week, college students from the College of Abia, this time within the southern a part of the nation, had been caught within the assault on a bus. Based on the authorities, just one is left with different passengers, the others have managed to flee.

    ► Learn additionally: Nigeria: the demise of the gang chief that led to the kidnapping of 344 boys from a boarding college

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  • a new student march prevented, from

    a new student march prevented, from

    In Algiers, the weekly student march was prevented again on Tuesday for the second week in a row. These peaceful marches against power resumed at the end of February after a year of closure due to the health crisis. On Tuesday, May 4, and as the election called for by the government in June approached, dozens of people were arrested before they could even begin marching.

    It is an extraordinary police unit that was waiting for the students on Tuesday on the streets of Algiers. But this time they had taken their precautions by changing the usual meeting place and thus hoping to avoid the arrests that forced them to give up their march last week.

    But the massive deployment of police was right for these precautions. The arrests therefore began very early, even before the march began, and according to testimonies collected by AFP, it was dressed police officers who first arrested several student leaders, then dozens of other young people.

    This wave of arrests was particularly condemned by the Algerian League for the Defense of Human Rights. She says she is concerned about “the escalation of repression against all opposition voices and Hirak”. According to her, proof of the authorities’ determination, the protesters who were arrested 8 days ago were released only on condition: they had to sign a document in which they undertake to no longer participate in these weekly marches with pain in prison.

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  • every third Congolese student suffered a serious one

    every third Congolese student suffered a serious one

    Uncertainty, displacement of populations, restrictions linked to Coronavirus … For all these reasons, the food situation in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) is deteriorating and this worries the UN. More than 27 million people are on the brink of starvation.

    The World Food Program and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) have just conducted a study among 60 million people in the Democratic Republic of Congo, including in urban areas.

    According to this study, more than 27 million people, or almost one in three Congolese, are in stages 3 and 4 of acute food insecurity, ie the stages before starvation, explains Nourou Macki Tall., Deputy FAO Representative in the DRC. This is three times more than three years ago.

    “In particular, they adopt survival strategies, that is, skipping at least one meal a day and within the family it has priorities, that is, who should eat. It is internally displaced persons and refugees who are most affected, in addition to other populations that are already in a precarious situation, especially with the impact of Covid-19. “People cannot diversify their sources of income to access markets if there is uncertainty in the same markets, especially in the most affected provinces, North Kivu and South Kivu,” he said.

    Immediate food assistance and save the agricultural campaign

    “The first immediate measure is immediate food assistance in the form of food or cash, where there are functioning markets. The second immediate measure is to provide these populations with funds to save the agricultural campaign in May and the agricultural campaign in September. More than 80% of producers do not have access to quality seeds, explains Nourou Macki Tall, FAO’s Deputy Representative for the Democratic Republic of Congo.

    Also read: DRC: FAO’s fears of food crisis

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  • South Africa: Coca-Cola, the great scholar of

    South Africa: Coca-Cola, the great scholar of

    The recent announcement by the South African subsidiary of Coca-Colade to cede part of the capital to its employees is welcomed by the government. But overall, the record of positive discrimination policies that are supposed to promote the participation of blacks, meteis and Indian communities in addressing economic inequalities is still far from perfect.

    From our correspondent in Johannesburg,

    As of May, the approximately 8,000 employees in the local Coca-Cola branch responsible for bottling will own a 15% stake in the company, up from 5% so far. What should transform the economy a little more, according to Trade Minister Ebrahim Patel.

    “If we add the shares of employees and external investors, this represents a participation of black communities of 20% in the company. It is a remarkable effort to try to build a more inclusive economy, ”said the Minister of Trade. The employees will also have two seats on the board. And the company is committed to favoring more local suppliers. These terms were part of a merger agreement signed in 2016.

    ► See also: Jacob Zuma calls for a radical economic transformation of South Africa

    For researcher Ayabonga Cawe, this is a step in the right direction. “This decision is welcome, for all that it entails in terms of redistribution of profits, dividends and working capital, while South Africa is one of the most unequal countries in the world. However, once this is in place, it will be necessary to examine the details of this redistribution beyond the simple announcement. “

    Still too little capital in the possession of blacks, metis and Indian societies

    Affirmative policies in favor of blacks, metis and Indian societies have evolved since their inception. But today, according to official statistics, less than 30% of corporate capital is owned by these populations, who regret Kganki Matabane, headed by Black Business Council, which brings together black entrepreneurs: “We are in 2021, and if you look at who owns the country’s economy, of course there has been some progress, but it is extremely slow. But here, unlike other countries, it is about giving economic power back to the majority. And if we continue at the current pace, one day we may end up losing patience. “

    And for economist Duma Gqubule, the economic downturn should not help with redistribution: “These economic liberation policies were successful as our economy grew between 2004 and 2008. But over the last ten years, we have seen a decline in GDP per capita. Inhabitant, and it has been a lost decade for these policies. I think it would be necessary to get them to develop again and change the compromises that were established with mines, banks or insurance companies, ”he said.

    Another sector may soon be a concern: the telecommunications authority wants 30% of corporate capital to be in the hands of black investors, causing the smallest structures to shrink.

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  • after a year interrupted by Covid-19, the student fair attracts many academics

    after a year interrupted by Covid-19, the student fair attracts many academics

    In Madagascar, the student and employment fair attracts hundreds of high school students. Since Monday, November 24, in the garden by Lake Anosy, in the center of the capital Antananarivo, the bays are always full. Ten days ago, more than 77,000 young Malagasy people received their baccalaureate. After a school year that was greatly disrupted by the Covid-19 pandemic, many high school students are struggling to make a choice for their future.

    as reported from Antananarivo, Laetitia Bezain

    Difficult to get between the twenty locations for universities, colleges and private institutes. In the audience, Veronica, 17, has just received her scientific student book: “I visited many stands but I have not yet decided on it. It makes me very afraid of going the wrong way because I do not yet know what I want to do to support myself. The coronavirus epidemic has bothered me and stressed me a lot. I concentrated on passing my degree and did not think about what I would do next, but now I realize that I really need advice. ”

    Uncertainty about employment

    The uncertainty and anxiety of not finding a job after graduation is also what drove Ravaka, 18, into the corridors of this living room: “It scares me to see all the people who have lost. their employment due to the epidemic. I’m going to study and I do not know if it will get me a job. I’m afraid of wasting years. I know such people, they are licensed but unemployed. ”

    During a celebration, about thirty young people participate in a conference on self-employment. A way to meet the challenge of hiring for the organizers. Symonette Fanjanarivo, Director General of the University Communication Center: “There are many young people who are underemployed or have a degree and who do not work in the sector in which they are to work. That is why we are here to help young people get the tools they need so that they can be more easily integrated into working life or that they can commit. ”

    Cultivate entrepreneurship

    “We try to cultivate the entrepreneurial spirit in them,” she says. In particular, we have started a start-up competition with the theme of environment to develop this spirit among young people. Participants in the competition can come up with innovative solutions to turn household waste into energy or suggest solutions for storage, such as rainwater. “

    Participants will have several months to develop their projects and will be supported by a coach. According to the latest statistics from the International Labor Office (ILO), 20% of young Malagasy academics are unemployed

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