WHY DEPRIVE SOUTHERN UNIVERSITIES AND STUDENTS?

The recent ministerial decree of the minister of higher education and scientific research by barring out the southern universities from intake is off the mark. Someone has to reverse it and fast.

The minister of Higher education in GOSS has to interfere and bring this sensitive issue to Salva Kiir to have the decision of his minister reversed. What is the point of depriving the universities of upper Nile and Bahar El Ghazal and Juba from intake in medicine and nursing and law in Juba universities respectively simply because of their being in Khartoum. But why had these colleges not been taken to their locations in the south? This would not be the first time in Sudan that a ministerial order be reversed and particularly this ministry. There was the closure of the Aviation college which was reversed the same year. The decisions which are not properly studied can be very detrimental.

If the independence of the south should come through the referendum, it is going to have impact on all the institutions in the south. This is a part of the failure of the GOSS during the last five years which should have relocated the three mother universities in the south so as to phase out these universities in the north. If separation is deemed the most probable option by the minister of higher education, then what had he done so far for the other southern students in other Sudanese universities? There are thousands of southern students in the Sudanese university what will their fate be, and where is the decree pertaining to them?

This decree is depriving the south from students who could have been accepted in colleges of medicine, Nursing, Law etc. Until the last day of the referendum, this country remains one and this what makes the minister of higher education responsible for higher education in the whole country. Therefore why are the potential future workforce denied the chances of going to the university for the fear of independence? The case of the southern students in the universities should be included in post referendum issues to be discussed by the partners. But assuming the country does not break up into two, then we will have also denied these potentials their rights.

If we in the south are contemplating acceptance for our students in foreign countries, this is going to be very expensive for GOSS and families. It would be better for these students to apply and be accepted in the southern universities impending the out come of the referendum. In case of separation, these ones can have classes opened in the south and bring teachers from elsewhere. That is going to be cheaper for the south and will have done good for our children. Thus we ask the minister to have a second thought about the decision, else it should be forced down his throat by the council of ministers in the GONU, because this is future of the nation and not that of the minister. A minister is only a tool to effect national policies or initiate them. Hinting at the same time that he can err and might need to relinquish the post if the need be.

Blocking education is blocking the future of the nation. But who has the right to block the nations’ future? The parents and the potential students should petition the palace to have this issue tabled in the council of minister for discussion and decision. The minister should understand that it will only be the southern students to bear the brunt of this decision, as the northern students will have a lot of options as there are many universities in the north.