The Alumni of the 2 all-male halls in KNUST argue that the school authorities are pushing for the conversion in order to promote a culture of silence at the school.
The Alumni of two halls of residence at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) has indicated their displeasure at the school management’s decision to convert all-male halls into unisex ones.
The Alumni argue that the school authorities are doing this in order to promote a culture of silence at the school.
However, the school which has started assigning female students to the all-male halls argue that they are doing this to contain the growing female population of the school.
But the Greater Accra Press secretary of the University Hall alumni, Raymond Laud, told Accra-based Citi FM that the reasons given are not plausible.
READ ALSO: Nana Addo can't wait to welcome #NSMQ2018 winners to Jubilee House
“We think that the reasons they are giving are not tenable. We know that they just want to promote a culture of silence on campus. The University Authority wants to have their way in everything they do. We are appealing to parents not to send their female wards to Katanga. We are appealing to the powers that be, President Akufo-Addo and the Chancellor, Otumfuo Osei Tutu II to step in and call the Vice Chancellor to order,” he said.
Some alumni petitioned the government earlier this year over the matter. Some students of the two all-male halls University Hall, popularly known as Katanga, and Unity Hall, also protested in February against the decision.
According to the students, if the conversion is done, it will wipe away a long-standing tradition of the two halls, which must be guarded.
READ ALSO: 4 teachers sacked; 4 others transferred
The 2 all-male halls will not be the first to be converted into mixed halls. Halls such as Independence Hall, Queen Elizabeth Hall, and Republic Hall at KNUST were all occupied by only males in the past but were converted to mixed halls later.
Africa Hall remains the only single-sex hall at the school for only females.
‘UG’s Commonwealth Hall to be mixed hall’
University of Ghana’s Commonwealth Hall has also been facing a similar issue. The hall is the only male hall in the university
In 2010, there was an attempt to convert Commonwealth Hall of the University of Ghana to a mixed hall.
Alumni and students of the hall staged a protest. Nothing concrete has been heard of the decision again.