It is examination period again, and as usual everyone is seeking to either revitalize or beef up their CGPA. As we all may agree, different students apply diverse strategies in preparation for their examination, but at the end of it all, everyone is seeking a common goal of coming out rewardingly.
[ads1]Just as every coin has two faces; thieves in the surrounding communities envision this period as bumper harvest and victimize students ruthlessly.
Most these robbers cruelly apply all sorts of physical assaults to rob students of their little money and valuable items. Mr. Tony Henry Arthur, the immediate pass SRC president stated on 08/05/18 at exactly 12:16am on the Student Forum WhatsApp group platform that “Poverty in Cape Coast is making UCC students suffer. We are sandwiched by villages.
They [thieves] are feeding on the university but rather wrongly.” He made this statement after reports of about seven robbery cases in less than two hours of the said date. This infers that the state certainly has a role in this robbery cases in our university. The state has failed to perform its responsibility of providing jobs for this people, hence this people make their ends meet through criminal conducts of robbing we the already poor students.
It not the fault of the state, but also the negligence of some students play an important role in this robbery attempts, a misconception I have always argued.
Some people argue that despite the numerous security tips provided by the school’s security authorities, some students act otherwise and fall prey to these pathetic and poverty stricken pilfers. But if patrons of the university had played their roles well in ensuring a serene environment, student wouldn’t have to worry about being parochially apprehensive of their safety.
We understand that students are primarily responsible for their own safety, but some situations demand more than the efforts of the students, yet security men are not available to offer assistance. How can students even have sound minds to study or be willing to go out to study knowing very well that our campus is unsafe and very vulnerable to armed robbery without any quick emergency team to aid us out?
Per the records, U.C.C. recorded the lowest robbery cases ever, during examination, last semester, because, Mr. Tony Henry Arthur, the then SRC president took a conscious effort to remedy the problem of alarming robbery cases during examination period. He initiated an all-night free bus system, which transported students the ‘Science Shuttle Station’ to every residential place on campus. It is prudent that the current administration continue this path, because it is so far the best way to combat this problem haunting students.
If we want our university to compete be equally competitive internationally then such issues should be minor, because such problems does not require rocket science to solve. I humbly plead that the university authorities must channel adequate efforts and resources to curb this problem. I therefore humbly appeal to all stakeholders to play their respective roles rancorously to make robbery cases history in our university.
Osei Agyemang
Student, University of Cape Coast.
