Education Minister Mathew Opoku Prempeh has stated categorically that government is against attempts by the Council of the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) to convert some halls into mixed ones.

The comment comes after the alumni of the Unity Hall of the KNUST expressed anger about the minister’s letter asking the university council to reconsider the conversion of Katanga hall into a mixed one. The statement failed to mention Unity hall even though the conversion affects it too.

Consequently, the alumni declared they are stripping the minister, who is an alumnus of the hall, off his membership status.

Speaking to the media in Kumasi in the Ashanti Region, the Manhyia South MP said: “Government position has been well stated. Ultimately, it is the University Council that decides. I will not change government’s policy on the whim."

"Government has stated its aversion to the policy and that policy, in as much as it affects any hall is a policy the government is against. That is government’s position. Probably people do not read well.”

“Government talked about its aversion to the policy. I wrote to the Chairman of the University Council, expressing government’s position on the mixed hall policy and it is about the policy, it is not about Katanga”.

Both Unity and Katanga were all-male Halls until a recent decision by the school authorities to convert them into a mixed Hall in order to promote Maths and Science studies among female students.

The conversion which is being resisted by the students of the hall is before a court and the Asantehene for intervention.