The National Union of Ghana Students (NUGS) has charged education authorities to “grant permission to students nationwide to enable them travel and exercise their franchise” on December 7.
A press release signed by NUGS President Luqman Abubakari stated: “The leadership of the National Union of Ghana Students (NUGS) shall resist any attempt to disenfranchise students by the Ministry of Education and Ghana Education Service (GES).”
The release noted that majority of students in senior high schools fall within the age bracket of first time voters and thus must not be restricted from voting.
“… Any form of frustrations from their schools’ administrations scares them off. There are reports from some students in these SHSs that authorities are demanding for students’ voter ID cards before they are allowed to go home. We don’t want to conclude that these are deliberate attempts by heads to disenfranchise these students,” the statement added.
Further, NUGS indicated that some students of training institutions and private universities were complaining bitterly about the conduct of their authorities in trying to prevent them from going home to vote.
According to NUGS, “They are not aware of when they are going on a break, which per the status quo, is supposed to commence a day before the elections and ends on the day after the elections. Students are worried and confused with their preparations marred and disrupted.”
NUGS, therefore, has appealed to school authorities to grant students of voting age the permission to go and cast their ballot on the day of the elections.
Source: Ghana/AccraFM.com
