Oct 27, 2020(Nyamilepedia) — University of Juba issued a circular announcing that the school will temporarily close for undergraduate lectures until November 23 to give students ample time to clear with the finance department and get their temporary identity cards.
According to the circular, the lectures are suspended for all students except for postgraduate programs.
“Lectures are suspended and the university will be closed to all students except postgraduate programs for this week. We will open for students who have not registered to clear their fees from Monday 2nd November to Saturday 21st November 2020, then we will resume the next Monday (23rd November) and everybody will show a temporary ID card “ read part of the circular.
The circular also threatens to deregister students who will not have registered by the 21st of November, 2020; however, postgraduate students will not be affected by the temporary suspension of studies.
The affected students protested over the circular imposed by the vice -chancellor on Monday leading to closure of the entire University.
“What happened in the university was a circular brought out by the VC saying on Monday which is 26th of October, he will close all gates of the campus to those who have not paid. He came to the gate and did it but students forced themselves into the campus. Today, again he came up with another circular saying the university will be closed for one month,” said the student leader, James Duar.
“Protest is our rights in the university constitution. We called for our rights and it was clear. We demanded that the students’ ID fees be separated from the tuition fee. Students should not be prevented from getting into the campus. These demands should have not led to university closure,” Chan Riang, a student at the college of natural resources said.
Professor Akech defended the increase in tuition fee saying that what the school is asking for is less nan 50 US dollars.
“What we are demanding is less than 50 US dollars per semester. Some students are committed but some think they will study for free because this is a government institution” Prof. Akech said.
