Student Strike

UDSM students sent packing

BY DAILY NEWS ReporterDaily News;
Wednesday,November 12, 2008 @21:15

The University of Dar es Salaam yesterday sent away all undergraduate students at the Main Campus on an indefinite suspension, ending a three-day strike at the Hill, Vice-Chancellor Prof Yunus Mgaya has announced. Prof Mgaya told reporters yesterday that the students were ordered to vacate the premises by 6:00 pm – after which they would be removed by force. However, the order does not affect students at the Institute of Journalism and Mass Communication (IJMC), where normal classes were still in progress, Prof Mgaya said. However, the fate of students at the premiere education constituent college at Chang’ombe Campus - the Dar es Salaam University College of Education (DUCE) – remained unclear, and Prof Mgaya said the University administration was still awaiting details of student attendance reports there before a final decision could be made. Prof Mgaya said the University administration had summoned the Dar es Salaam University Students Organization (DARUSO) leadership since Sunday in vain efforts to stop the strike and ongoing demonstrations, which he said posed a threat to ‘peace and harmony’ within the campus. “The students have contravened the university’s by-laws … whose penalty is suspension,” Prof Mgaya said. The students went on strike to press the government into doing away with the cost-sharing policy, arguing that criteria used to determine the amount the students should contributedoesn’t work. At the IJMC, studies were meanwhile suspended yesterday to allow safe-keeping of personal belongings of students living at the Mabibo and Main Campus hostels, but classes are expected to resume today. At the Main Campus, the affected students started packing – ready for peaceful exit – soon after the announcement was made, even though some complained of the notice being “too short.” However, they should have seen it coming – since the University bylaws provide that any cessation of classes for three days running meant imminent closure. On Tuesday, the Minister for Education and Vocational Training, Prof Jumanne Maghembe, ordered the students to resume classes by early morning yesterday, all in efforts to allow the government time to resolve some of the sticky issues around costsharing in institutions of higher learning. Cost-sharing was first implemented in 1992 following a government decision requiring parents and guardians to contribute towards the running costs of social services such as education, health, water and energy. So far 254bn/- has been spent sponsoring some 145,970 students between 2005 and June, this year. Meanwhile, DARUSO President Anthony Machibya said the students would respect the suspension order, but added that the students leaders would remain within Dar es Salaam a while “to ensure that everything is under control.” “It is not that we have cancelled our demands … we stand by them and should they not be sorted out, the situation would not change when we resume studies,” he said. He also said DARUSO would be on standby to provide “help and guidance” to any students who might have difficulty in meeting “any conditions” set by the University administration before classes resume next time round.

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All international students will still be able to live on campus and classes will continue being held.