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Leave varsity students alone - Opposition
2007-05-19 09:21:19
By Lydia Shekighenda
Opposition parties have said there is no need for the 56 University of Dar es Salaam students readmitted yesterday to explain their role in the mid-April boycott of classes because they were merely fulfilling their duties as students leaders.
Civic United Front Prof. Ibrahim Lipumba told a press conference in Dar es Salaam yesterday that investigating the students and disturbing them with demands for explanation violated their right to play their role as legally elected leaders of the Dar es Salaam Students Organisation (DARUSO).
`We call upon the University of Dar es Salaam management to stop harassing the students because that will affect them psychologically and disrupt their academic performance,` Prof. Lipumba, who was speaking on behalf of two other opposition parties, said.
The other opposition leaders at the joint conference were Tanzania Labour Party Chairman Augustine Mrema and his National Convention for Construction and Reform (NCCR-Mageuzi) counterpart, James Mbatia.
Prof. Lipumba also urged the university management to realise that the readmission of students after a month-long suspension would not be helpful if their basic demands are not fulfilled as a matter of urgency.
The (university) management should understand that the students` demands impact heavily on the students` parents or guardians and the public, he noted, calling on the government to nullify all conditions barring students` accessibility to government loans.
`The Higher Education, Science and Technology ministry should not amend the law governing students` loans by attaching grades as a criterion for the students to qualify for the loans,` he explained, arguing that the law directs the government to provide loans to all students in need of them on their admission to the respective universities.
On Thursday, the university`s Council endorsed a decision to readmit all 56 students shut out after hundreds of their colleagues were recalled, apparently pending investigations to establish their role in the mid-April boycott. All are DARUSO leaders.
The 56 students were directed to report to their respective faculty deans or directors, with the management saying the results of the said probe would be communicated to them when the exercise was completed.
Undergraduate students at the university boycotted classes on April 16 and 17 this year, demanding 100 per cent government sponsorship and a rise in meal allowances.
This prompted the university management to suspend all those at the main campus and the university`s affiliate colleges - Dar es Salaam College of Education, Mkwawa University of Education, and University College of Lands Architectural Studies.
But on Monday the management announced that it had decided to reinstate all suspended students except the 56, a move that raised many questions among the students and other stakeholders.
The decision also prompted fears of the possibility of the students engaging in further strikes and staging a boycott of the impending crucial examinations due to start on Monday.
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