GIJ,WHAT EXACTLY DO WE PAY FOR?

GIJ, WHAT EXACTLY DO WE PAY FOR?

                              My dear colleague students, may I have 3 minutes of your precious revision week time to draw your attention to a pertinent issue.  How do you feel when you give out your money without knowing what you are paying for? How do you assess the value of that huge or scanty amount you pay for fees? Well, I feel cheated and insulted for always giving my hard-earned money to GIJ without the benefit of knowing exactly what I purchase and at what price.

               Yes, I do recall that when I received my admission letter from the University of Ghana, there was nothing hidden as regards the information I needed to feel at home. Every bit of information about social life, academic work and finance was readily made available. Everything was plain and bare, you may call it transparent. However, what is of interest to us and triggers this write-up lies in the last italized sentence on page 9 of the university of Ghana manual on registration and orientation for freshmen; it reads “NOTE: Detailed Fee Schedules are available on the university’s website www.ug.edu.gh” . There I got to know how much I was paying for   what service or facility. Is this too much a task for GIJ?

                       I remember I caught a glimpse of a friend’s admission letter to Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology and every pesewa of his fees was explicitly stated.  I still have fresh memories of the right I enjoyed knowing about my school fees way back in Notre Dame Seminary Senior High School, even the 1.20 pesewas the government paid as my feeding grant .Surprisingly, when Ghana Institute of Journalism offered me an admission, I was still looking forward to receiving a second letter which will indicate the composition of the fees. To my utter shock these were already made computations that only God and the school administration can tell us what and what they added, multiplied, subtracted or perhaps divided to get such absolute figures. May be it is because we appear so comfortable about it and no one questions why. Before, I thought the act was typical of those institutions they called professional institutions but when I chanced on my elder brother’s  Institute of Professional Studies(IPS) admission letter I was convinced that it is the uniqueness of GIJ.

           Forgive me if I bore you with my personal profile but it will actually serve as a pivot around which the write-up will revolve and also expose to what happens in other tertiary institutions. Let me reiterate that the underlying factor of this piece does not hinge on whether or not the fees are exorbitant, for that is relative depending on the individual and the economic time. Neither does it border on embezzlement or corruption but it is basically transparency driven, accountability motivated and assessment oriented

              For the purposes of assessment, not only can we assess the performance of the school, but also the performances of institutions and groups within the school. For instance the current SRC has on its list of achievements that, it has succeeded in negotiating for the reduction of fees for continuing regular students. For the SRC to argue in that light without the breakdown of fees will only bring to bear a fallacy or at best a very very weak argument. It will be sheer naivety and gullibility on our part to be carried away by the typographical display of the numbers; we should as well consider what the numbers stand for and read them “metaphysically” and logically. The fact that continuing regular students now pay less than they paid last year in itself doesn’t guarantee a reduction. Of course we now pay for fewer services from GIJ than we did last year; we no longer pay for ID cards, we won’t pay for matriculation and some things I do not know. Under normal circumstances, if the cost of these things really reflect in the fees then obviously continuing students especially level 200 students, whether regular students or fee-paying  should pay less than last year. Well, there may be truth in the SRC’s self-assessment but unfortunately it is hidden in the failure of administration to make known the composition of school fees.SRC can vindicate itself if it takes on this issue on behalf of the student body to show us where exactly the “reduction” affected.

        Fellow students, imagine one day you are asked to pay some amount of money at library before having access to its material or you are asked to pay before using the lavatory at the time you are very “pressed” or you board the school shuttle and all of a sudden you hear someone say “yesss! Front” or after a lecture the lecturer demands to levy all the students for his tuition, in each case what will be your reaction? What will be your defense remarks? What will you use to substantiate your stance? You will realize that whatever you say in each case will only be based on assumptions and not evidence. We need to have strong backing in such situations like it happened in the university of Ghana last year around this same time; first semester, when the continuing students noticed an increment in their fees.Refering to the detailed schedule of their fees, they realized that they were made to pay for an exam meant for only level 100 students, so they detected it and protested. Considering the current system of GIJ If such things happen, I can guarantee that it will only be by magic or some sort of divine intervention that we identify them. Why can’t we also have the right to know what we pay for and how much we pay for it?

           Fellow students, I am glad to have brought to your notice something you probably overlooked or perhaps did not know how to initiate an action to that effect but that should not incite you or elicit an irrationally action. Take it easy! Give it a sober reflection and if the need be, act and act responsibly. Have you ever imagined how much seriousness you will attach to your lectures if you learn that you pay so much for tuition? Of course it can change our apathy towards things we pay huge sums yet do not patronize them. I do not think we will be accused of any crime if we prudently challenge what appears to be a status quo. Obviously not, because I know the rector, the vice rector or any member of the administrative body of GIJ will certainly challenge his or her bank if they receive a pay slip that indicates only their monthly salary without recourse for deductions, allowances and arrears. In as much as they will like to have an explicit computation and display of the salary, they should do well to do likewise for us in accordance with the biblical text which states “do unto others what you want done unto you”

Ladies and gentlemen of this noble institution, may I leave you with this; it’s the little things that matter. If we cannot stand up and fix these little little things, then any intention to fix the big ones will be a pipe dream. Yes we can!!To my dear SRC executives, the onus is yours, IF ONLY YOU HAVE FOUGHT THE FIGHT AND WON IT, THEN BRING HOME THE TITLE LET US ALL SEE IT and this lies in the composition of GIJ school fees. My name is P D Wedam and this is my mind. MAY SUCCESS BE YOUR PORTION IN THE EXAM.GOOLUCK