Scores of students at the Tamale Technical University (TaTU) sustained injuries on Monday after a peaceful demonstration over poor facilities and delayed funds turned chaotic following a confrontation with police.
The protest, jointly organized by the Graduate Students’ Association of Ghana (GRASAG) and the Students’ Representative Council (SRC), was meant to highlight what students described as worsening conditions on campus.
According to Musa Mahmudu, Associate Public Relations Officer of the TaTU students’ front, the demonstration was to draw attention to longstanding concerns about lecture halls, hostel facilities, and the disbursement of student levies.
“This is a university, not a primary school. For years, we have been paying fees with levies for development, sanitation, exams, and medicals, but there’s nothing to show for it. Lecture halls are unbearable, hostels look abandoned, yet students pay GH¢1,200 plus additional dues,” he said.
The students further accused management of withholding SRC funds, a situation they claimed had crippled student activities, including elections and the planned SRC Week celebration.
“As it stands now, we don’t even have money to run elections or pay off some of our teachers,” Mahmudu added.
What was intended to be a peaceful march, however, escalated into chaos when police intervened. Students alleged that officers charged at them without provocation, leading to violent clashes that left several injured. The victims were rushed to nearby health facilities for treatment.
The leadership of the protest maintained that they had engaged university authorities on multiple occasions before resorting to the demonstration. They said their plan was to present a petition to the Minister of Education.
The petition, according to the students, demands urgent improvements in campus infrastructure, transparency in the use of student levies, and the immediate release of SRC funds.
