Top 5 beautiful traditional halls at the University of Ghana
Being a student of Ghana’s premier University is the dream of most young Ghanaians who want to take their academic journey further. As one travels several miles to Accra to pursue his or her academic dreams, you need a place to sleep. This needful requirement has made it a mandatory practice for the various universities in the country most especially the state owned universities to make provisions for residential facilities.
At the University of Ghana, legon, there are five 5 beautiful traditional halls of residence, eight(8) hostels, one international hostel, and two(2) graduate hostels.
The residential fees of the traditional halls which include Commonwealth Hall (all male hall), Volta Hall (all female hall), Akuafo Hall (mixed hall), Legon Hall (mixed), and Mensah Sarbah Hall (mixed) are usually cheaper compared to that of the hostels.
5 Beautiful traditional halls of residence at the University of Ghana
1. Mensah Sarbah Hall
It is one of the five traditional halls at the university of Ghana. This hall was named after a Ghanaian law hero, John Mensah Sarbah. The hall is undoubtedly the best mixed-hall on campus having won many laurels. The hall boasts of a traditional outfit known as the “OKPO”(Common Sense Rules).
Furthermore the Hall, in collaboration with the private sector, offers a variety of services (laundry, ICT, catering etc.) for her students and visitors.
It has affiliations with Katanga hall in Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) and Casford Hall at the University of Cape Coast (UCC). Alumni and students of the hall are affectionately called The Vikings due to their resilience.
The hall has two annexes, annexes A and B.
MOTTO: KNOWLEDGE, HONOUR, AND SERVICE
Inside Mensah Sarbah Hall main
Entrance of Mensah Sarbah Hall main
Inside Mensah Sarbah Hall main
Mensah Sarbah hall Annex building
2. Akuafo Hall
Akuafo Hall is the second oldest hall among the 5 traditional halls on the University of Ghana campus. The hall was built to commemorate the hard work of Ghanaian farmers who made generous contributions towards its construction, hence the name ‘Akuafo’ which means farmers.
The hall through partnership with third party service providers, offer laundry, restaurant, internet cafe, and printing services. There are 4 annexes in addition to the main hall, and it is a mixed-hall.
Legon Hall was the first to be built among the 5 traditional halls and is, therefore, the Premier Hall of the University.
It is located at the Centre of the school close to the biggest library in West Africa thus the Balme Library. It is also a mixed hall with a strong bond between the males and females. Legon hall has produced lots of prominent personalities in Ghana including the current President of Ghana, H.E Nana Addo Dankwah Akufo-Addo, and the country’s longest serving electoral commission, Dr. Kwadwo Afari Gyan. The has serves its members with restaurants, internet cafe, barbering shops, and minimarkets. There are two annexes addition to the main hall.
Legon Hall Main entrance
Students ready to vacate Legon Hall
4. Commonwealth Hall
Commonwealth Hall serves as the central point of the entire University of Ghana campus. The architectural flow starting from the valley of a hill and rise to the hilltop with huge cluster of blocks occupying thousands of students. This is the only male dominant hall on campus. Like any of the 5 traditional halls, commonwealth hall also has a Senior Common Room made up of mainly the alumni fraternity, and the Junior Common Room JCR members made of students. The hall currently has no annex, but plans are in the pipeline to construct ultramodern hall annex.
There facilities such as chapel, restaurant, laundry, printing services in the hall.
Students of commonwealth hall are known as VANDALS, an acronym for VIVACIOUS, AFFABLE, NEIGHBORLY, DEVOTED, ALTRIUSTIC and LOYAL. They address each other as V-MATES and the popular response is SHARP. It is also the only hall that upholds customs and traditions. VANDALS are said to be arguably the voices of the entire student body. They pride themselves with leadership qualities and unity, no wonder OLD VANDALS are always proud of the hall. You dare not go to the romantic vandal city in RED if you are a lady. They will howl “Korkor ooo korkor” once a lady is seen in red attire in the hall.
Entrance to Commonwealth Hall Bacchus garden
Entrance to Commonwealth Hall Bacchus garden
Drone view of Commonwealth Hall
5. Volta Hall
It is the only all-female hall at the University of Ghana Legon campus known for their discipline and neatness. The hall has churned out many respectable women such as the first female Chief Justice Georgina Theodora Woode. The motto of the hall is “Akokor bere nso nim adekyee” which means the hen also knows the approach of dawn. Their feminine slogan is ladies with vision and style.
The hall is right in front of Commonwealth Hall at the down hill. There is a strong alliance between the hall and Commonwealth Hall. The chief vandal always performs rituals at the Volta Hall whenever they are having a procession. Occupants of the hall have access to restaurants, business center, Hair care center, and dress making shops.
The No Guarantor Student Loan Policy, a promise by the Akufo-Addo government prior to the 2020 elections, is to make tertiary education accessible to Ghanaian youth, especially graduates from the highly subscribed Free Senior High School policy.
With the No Guarantor Student Loan Policy, the cumbersome and restrictive policy of students providing three SSNIT contributors as guarantors before they could access student loans for tertiary education has been abolished. The No Guarantor Student Loan Policy Dr. Bawumia explained, makes it possible for qualified young Ghanaians to access loans to fund their tertiary education, using their Ghana Card.
REMOVAL OF BARRIERS TO EDUCATION
Speaking at the launch, Vice President Bawumia said, the coming into fruition of the pro-poor policy, will remove barriers and significantly increase inclusive access to tertiary education.
“The removal of the guarantor requirement is a critical first step to ensuring cost is not a barrier to access and participation in tertiary education,” Dr. Bawumia said.
“Indeed, these are exciting times to be a youth in Ghana. One can go through education from basic to tertiary with guaranteed support from Government.”
The Vice President noted that globally, loans have enabled financially challenged individuals to go through Universities and pay after graduation and the government of President Akufo-Addo recognised this need, and the challenges associated with students getting guarantors to secure loans, hence the introduction of the No Gurantor Policy to ease the burden of parents of qualified Free SHS graduates.
Expressing his delight over the launch of the policy and how it will help the poor, Dr. Bawumia gave startling statistics of how many students are unable to access guarantor-required student loans, thus, possibly being denied access to tertiary education.
“Evidence shows that the guarantor requirement poses a barrier to access. Out of the 325,000 eligible students whose details were submitted by all the tertiary institutions on the Student Loans portfolio, only 9.6% could access the loan in the 2019/20 academic year,’ Dr. Bawumia revealed.
“Similarly, only 8.4% of eligible students could access loans in 2016/2017, 9.8% in 2017/18, and 8.6% in 2015/16. Further, in the 2019/20 academic year, 42% of the 7,552 loan applicants could not submit their completed forms because of difficulty finding eligible guarantors,” he added.
“We promised to remove the guarantor requirement as a condition for loan access in the 2020 manifesto of the NPP. In fulfillment of this promise, the Government has revised the policy; hence, tertiary students will not have to present a Guarantor in order to access student loans. Effective this school year, all eligible tertiary students will have to submit their Ghana Card to access the loans,” Dr. Bawumia said.
Dr. Bawumia also expressed delight that the No Guarantor Student Loan Policy has been made possible through the Ghanacard thanks to the investment the government has made in digital infrastructure, which has made the Ghanacard a reliable national identity card for Ghanaians.
“This is one of the benefits we derive as a country by prioritizing digitalization. It is at the core of every serious economic management.”
Various Speakers at the ceremony, including the Vice-Chancellor of KNUST Prof. Rita Akosua Dickson, and the President of NUGS, Dennis Appiah Larbi, expressed gratitude to the government of President Akufo-Addo for the policy.
All the speakers agree the policy will open doors for more brilliant but needy students to access tertiary education which they usually miss out due to lack of funding.
Also present at the ceremony was the Minister of Education, Dr. Yaw Osei Adutwum, who expressed his Ministry’s commitment to ensuring the success of the policy.
The No Guarantor Student Loan Policy is another milestone in education after expanding access to secondary education through the Free SHS policy.
Qualified students are required to apply online to the Ghana Students Loan Trust with their Ghanacard and successful students will have their fees paid directly to their tertiary institutions.
WAEC Releases 2022 BECE Timetable for all candidates
The West African Examination Council (WAEC) has released the 2022 BECE Timetable for all Candidates, both School and Private who are preparing to write the Junior High School leaving examination.
The released timetable for 2022 BECE shows that the 2022 examination will start on Monday 17th October 2022, and end on 21st October 2022. The first subject to be written will be Social Studie while the last paper is French.
BECE 2022 Examination Timetable
DATE
SUBJECT CODE
SUBJECT/PAPER
DURATION
TIME
Monday, 17th October 2022
020/2
Social Studies 2(Essay)
1 hour
9.00 a.m. – 10.00 a.m.
020/1
Social Studies 1 (Objective)
45 minutes
10.00 a.m. – 10.45 a.m.
070/2
Information and Communication Technology 2(Essay)
1 hour
1.00 p.m. – 2.00 p.m.
070/1
Information and Communication Technology 1(Objective)
Government’s newly built Bosomtwe Girls STEM High school admits first batch of students
Bosomtwe Girls STEM: It is quite obvious that President Akufo-Addo’s agenda to train the next generation of leaders in science and technology is becoming a reality.
The first batch of admitted students of Bosomtwe Girls STEM High School, located at Bosomtwe in the Ashanti Region has begun reporting to school.
This is aimed at equipping young men and women with the necessary knowledge at an early stage.
The education ministry is hopeful that paying serious attention to STEM will help bridge the development gap between Ghana and other first-world countries since products from the schools would be well-placed to make a real impact by solving societal problems.
The STEM drive has received a significant boost as one of the STEM schools under construction in the Ashanti Region, the Bosomtwe Girls STEM High School, has begun admitting students.
“Now we have started to train leaders in engineering, leaders in aviation, medical leaders, and the rest. This alone is best for the nation. We promise that we are going to be one of the best in this nation,” Mary Donkor, the Headmistress of the school, noted.
Education Minister, Dr. Yaw Osei Adutwum has described this as a significant milestone, as he says while the government has provided the needed logistics to the school, more resources would be invested there as well as other STEM schools being worked on across the country.
“We’ve opened Bosomtwe Girls STEM High School. It is so nice to meet the students. They’ve come from all over the country. I’ve seen those from Greater Accra, Ashanti, Bono and all over the country. This is going to be a national institution of excellence. The good news is that the science labs are done, the science equipment would be coming next week. They have a pick-up. Everything that the school needs is coming, so I’m excited”.
Some parents whose wards are among the pioneers attending the school are excited about the development.
“I started enquiring about the school when I heard of it from the Minister that it will be a STEM school for girls. It is necessary to equip the girls today, so they can grow up to be doctors, engineers, and the rest. I followed up on the progress of the school till I heard it has started operation. Although my daughter got admission into a top school, I insisted on admitting her to this school so that my daughter can benefit from the Minister’s vision. So I am calling on parents to bring their girl children who are yet to gain admission to any school to this school,” one of the parents stated.