ZWEDRU, (LINA) – Normal academic activities at the Grand Gedeh County Community College (GGCCC) in Zwedru have been disrupted for a week now due to a protest by students of the college.
Recently, students of the Nursing Department at the College and concerned colleagues from other departments staged a protest during which they paraded through the principal streets of Zwedru, the capital city of the county.
The protest was climaxed with the presentation of a petition statement to the County Superintendent, Kai G. Farley, for onward transmission to President George Weah.
They called on the National Board of Nursing and Midwifery to grant full accreditation to the Nursing Department which has been closed down by the Board for over seven months now for not meeting with the Board’s criteria.
In the petition, the students said they see the action of the Nursing Board as a gross violation of their right to education as enshrined in the 1986 Constitution and the Pro-Poor Agenda for Prosperity and Development
They called for the reopening and granting of full accreditation to the department since it met about 76% of the requirements after the last assessment conducted in August 2019, in line with the guidelines for accreditation of the Nursing and Midwifery program.
The protesting students blocked the main entrance to the college campus, preventing other students from sitting their mid-term examination, and administrative and support staff from gaining access to the campus.
At a meeting on Tuesday, October 22, with students on the college’s campus, the Co-Chairman of the Trustee Board of the GGCCC, Edward Gandy Dweh, commended the students for heeding the request to dialogue on their concerns.
Dweh disclosed that the County Legislative Caucus and the Board of Trustees have received their recommendations, and requested the Nursing Board to implement some key projects at the college within a certain period.
For his part, the Vice President for Academic Affairs, Bishop Abraham Gbeway, assured the students of the accreditation of the college by implementing the recommendations of the National Nursing Board.
He called for the setting up of a committee of stakeholders to work along with the college and the Nursing Board by doing a step-by-step update on progress being made prior to the next assessment.
Meanwhile, academic activities at the county’s highest institution of learning remain at a standstill.
The Grand Gedeh County Community College currently runs six departments: Agriculture, Business and Public Administration, Education, Divinity, Science and Technology and Health Sciences.
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