FRESH details emerged yesterday on the expulsion of about 7,000 University of Dodoma (UDOM) students, with the trend indicating persistence of ‘ghost students’ owing to “poor oversight” in admission procedures.
Addressing the University of Dar es
Salaam (UDSM) community, including the administration and students,
President John Magufuli said preliminary findings have shown that the
majority of UDOM students who were admitted to pursue a special Diploma
in Science (Education) did not possess required qualifications.
“About 7,802 students were admitted to the public university.
This was in contrast with the
recommendation by a don, Professor Kitila Mkumbo that admission should
not exceed 1,800 students,” the president observed. Unfortunately, he
went on, the university’s administration went on to recruit more
students, including those who attained Division Three and Four with a
few ones among the Division One and Two achievers.
The president, who appeared to be
irritated by the situation, told the gathering that the ‘’university’s
Vice- Chancellor, Professor Idris Kikula, was dragged to allow such
enrolment’’.
According to Dr Magufuli, such decision
compromised enrolment of students selected to 10 teacher training
colleges countrywide as the institutions found themselves short of
students.
It has been earlier announced by
Education, Science and Technology Minister Professor Joyce Ndalichako
that the decision to order the students to return home followed a move
by some lecturers to lay down tools.
While the decision by the government to
send home students was described as appropriate under the circumstances,
it was criticised by some opposition MPs. But giving fresh details
yesterday, the president said some dishonest people in positions of
authority were pushing their disqualified children to pursue high
learning education at the expense of the government.
This caused qualified students from poor
families to end their academic career. “We cannot tolerate this. There
was no excuse. It was appropriate to send all of them back home. Prof
Mkumbo had issued a positive advice and I think it’s high time we
stopped politicking on matters of such greater national concern,” he
emphasized.
Dr Magufuli announced explicitly that
some of the expelled students were children of civil servants and
government leaders, adding that fresh screening will be conducted to
determine qualified students who will be admitted to other higher
learning institutions.
“We have put on hold all higher
education loans for UDOM pending thorough scrutiny of all the
beneficiaries,” he said, lauding Prof Ndalichako for her commitment in
improving the quality of education in the country. Just recently, the
minister had suspended Tanzania Commission for Universities (TCU)
Executive Secretary Professor Yunus Mgaya and four other senior
officials for failing to take action against ghost students.
She further expelled 489 students at the
privatelyowned St Joseph University of Tanzania, who were admitted
despite failing their secondary education exams. In his stand, the
president said he is committed to clear all ghost workers now standing
at 10,500 and the emerging ghost students across the country.
The government has so far injected
349.6bn/- to the Higher Education Students Loans Board (HESLB). The
initiative has thus benefited 124,358 students -- up from 98,300 last
year
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