REJOINDER: UEW student-teachers accuse management, NSS of fraud

The attention of Management of the College of Technology Education, Kumasi (COLTEK) of the University of Education Winneba (UEW), has been drawn to the news article with the above headline that was published by the online portals - www.Starrfmonline.com and www.ghanaweb.com on Tuesday October 16, 2018 and was rife on Social Media platforms.

Management takes a very serious view of the said publication that has besmeared the otherwise good image of the College and its hardworking staff.

It particularly, condemns in no uncertain terms, the misleading headline of the story that bluntly accused the Management of fraud, even though, there was no part of the story where the supposedly concerned students tied Management to any wrong doing.

Armed with such damning information that was potential for badly denting the image of an institution of high repute like UEW, one would have expected that a journalist worth his salt would act professionally by giving the accused institution a chance to respond before rushing to press.

 However, the writer chose to ignore UEW in this regard and yet sought to create the erroneous impression in the story that the University was given that opportunity but failed to comment. Writing thus, “The University is yet to respond to calls to comment on the matter” when no such attempt was made by the writer is quite unfortunate, to say the least.

Management also wishes to express grave disappointment about claims made in the story and ascribed to the Ashanti Regional Manager of the National Service Secretariat (NSS), Mr. Opoku Mensah that sought to draw the management of COLTEK into the alleged fraud when he knew very well that the University had very limited involvement in the whole NSS recruitment processes.

For the avoidance of doubt, Management wishes to explain that it receives request for students list from key stakeholders in Education including the Students’ Loan Trust (SLT), Scholarship Secretariat and the NSS every year.

In the case of the NSS, they request for a list of final year students that contains the names, index numbers and programmes pursued by the students. Beyond submitting the soft and hard copies of the list, the University does nothing again in the NSS recruitment process. It is therefore unfortunate if what has been ascribed to Mr. Opoku Mensah in the story indeed came from him.

Consequently, management appeals to all its stakeholders to ignore and treat with contempt, the said publication which is a calculated attempt to destroy the University’s hard won image and goodwill. It assures, particularly, Alumni and students that their data with the University is safe and has not been used for any unauthorized reasons.