General News of Thursday, 26 July 2007

Source: GNA

Legon Lecturers live in boys' quarters

Accra, July 26, GNA - The acute accommodation problem at the University of Ghana, Legon, has compelled some lecturers to live in boys' quarters.

Professor Kwesi Yankah, Pro-Vice-Chancellor of the University, said this on Thursday at a ceremony to formally hand over 11 bungalows at Kisseman in Accra acquired from the defunct Ghana Airways.

Professor Yankah said out of about 800 lecturers, the University had been able to accommodate only 330, adding that the rest were still living with friends and families with some facing possible ejection from their landlords.

He said the concerns showed by the public on accommodation problems of students must equally be demonstrated in the plight of lecturers' accommodation to help boost their morale in the discharge of their duties.

Professor Yankah said the acquisitions of the bungalows were some of the steps taken by the University towards alleviating lecturers' accommodation problems on campus to enhance service delivery.

He said the ability of the University to attract young lecturers to replace the ageing ones was dependent on the provision of decent housing units for them and thanked government for its support towards the acquisition of the bungalows.

In a related development, a delegation from the World Assembly of Muslim Youth (WAMY) in Saudi Arabia, paid a courtesy call on the Pro-Vice-Chancellor to look at the possibility of areas of cooperation with the University.

Professor Khalid Alujaimi, leader of the delegation, said WAMY had offered to sponsor three students to the doctorate level to any University in the world to enhance the study and teaching of Arabic. Professor Alujaimi said WAMY had already signed a Memorandum of Understanding with over 20 universities in Africa.
He added that any cooperation with UG would help afford its students to interact with other sister-universities on the continent and beyond to sharpen their Arabic skills.