President John Mahama has announced plans to construct a 10,000-bed student hostel at the University of Ghana, describing it as a major step toward easing the accommodation challenges facing students and improving their safety.
Speaking at the opening ceremony of the University of Ghana’s 77th Annual New Year School and Conference on Tuesday, January 6, the President said the project is the result of an agreement signed during a recent visit to Singapore and will be delivered using prefabricated building technology.
“When I went to Singapore, we signed an agreement for a 10,000-student hostel in the University of Ghana,” President Mahama disclosed. “This is going to be a prefabricated building. It means the building will be manufactured somewhere and then assembled on campus.”
He revealed that preparations for the project are already underway, noting that the machinery for the factory that will manufacture the hostel components has been shipped from Singapore and is currently en route to Accra.
President Mahama placed the announcement in the context of growing public concern about student accommodation, referencing a recent social media post by academic Professor Kweku Azar, who compared his university experience to the difficulties faced by today’s students.
“He talked about how, in his time, you could simply walk to the porter’s lodge, your name would be checked, you’d be handed your room key, and that was it,” the President recounted. “Today, most of our students have to live off campus and travel to lectures every day.”
According to the President, the accommodation deficit has gone beyond inconvenience and has become a serious safety issue. He cited incidents in which students commuting from off-campus residences were knocked down by vehicles or attacked by armed robbers, sometimes with fatal consequences.
“There have been a few unfortunate incidents where students have either been knocked down by vehicles and died, or in some cases been attacked by armed robbers and lost their lives,” he said. “It is preferable that we have as many of our students living on campus, or as close to campus as possible.”
The 77th Annual New Year School and Conference, hosted by the University of Ghana, is being held under the theme “Building the Ghana We Want, Together for Sustainable Development.” The event brings together policymakers, academics, civil society actors, and students to reflect on national development challenges and policy solutions.
President Mahama said the proposed hostel project aligns with broader efforts to improve access to education and student welfare, adding that he had shared the “good news” with the Vice-Chancellor as part of the government’s commitment to supporting public universities.
The University of Ghana, like many public universities in the country, continues to struggle with limited on-campus accommodation, forcing a majority of students to seek housing in surrounding communities amid rising rent and security concerns.
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