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Ghana

Ghana School Offers Classes on Internet

In September 2002, the Africa Institute of Journalism and Communication in Accra, Ghana, will offer distance learning diplomas and certificates in journalism, public relations and marketing via the Internet. Students will be given the opportunity to meet with their instructors once each semester.

The president of the institute said the purpose of the new online programs is to reach more students and professionals who want to take courses in their own time. “They only have to have access to a computer or an Internet Café, no matter how far away they are from Accra,” he said.

— Accra Mail
Nov. 6, 2001

Zimbabwe

Time Running out for Colonial Names

Government schools named in honor of colonial heroes (such as Cecil John Rhodes) have until Dec. 31 to change their name or have the names changed for them. The purpose of the government mandate, which requires all institutions of education to rename themselves after Zimbabwean heroes, is ostensibly to honor those who liberated the country from British rule in 1980. However, the renaming campaign has further exacerbated tensions between whites and blacks.

— African Eye news Service
Nov. 6, 2001

Student Movement Under Government Attack

Zimbabwe’s once powerful and influential student movement is on the wane as government repression cracks down on dissident groups. Student leaders have been instrumental in pushing for political change since colonial days. But in recent years politicians (many of them former student activists) have come to see them as inconvenient obstacles blocking their own agendas.

The University of Zimbabwe has served as a fertile breeding ground for political activism. In the early 1990s students became less involved in politics and more concerned with individual survival. State funding for students began to dry up and the government became more repressive. In 1996 a new law severely curtailed student activism and placed the university under direct government control. These harsh measures led to the revival of the student movement, which began to focus on inadequate funding for higher education and government corruption. The revival of the Zimbabwe National Students Union (Zinasu), which has succeeded in uniting students all over the country, has particularly alarmed the government.

— Zimbabwe Standard
Nov. 3, 2001

Nigeria

Student Riots lead to Shut Down

Authorities shut down the Federal Polytechnic Ede on Nov. 2 after students rioted and vandalized campus property. The violence erupted during the counting of ballots for the student union election. Students accused the school’s deputy rector, who was in the vicinity of the ballot boxes, of tampering with the election to sabotage the chances of one of the candidates, a popular student activist. The rector had promised the students a free and fair election prior to the ballot counting. Sources have indicated that the election may be nullified and a ban may be imposed on student unionism.

— P.M. News (Lagos)
Nov. 6, 2001

University Expels Students with Fake Credentials

Ambrose Alli State University in Edo Nigeria recently expelled 270 students when it was discovered they had used falsified high school credentials to gain admission to the university. The investigation was the result of eight previous student expulsions involving fake high school diplomas. How the students obtained the bogus documents has not yet been determined.

The faculty of public administration expelled the largest number of students (31) followed by the faculty of electrical engineering, which reported 21 expulsions. The faculty of business administration gave 16 students the boot.

Other departments affected were sociology, international studies and diplomacy, accounting, banking and finance, mechanical engineering, economics, microbiology, sociology, political science and criminology.

— Vanguard (Lagos)
Oct. 26, 2001