The Management of Asanta SDA Nursing and Midwifery Training College, has repeated 145 students over poor academic performance.
The affected students, who are in level 100 and level 200, are under the Registered Nurse Assistant Clinical, Registered General Nurse and Registered Midwife programme.
According to the handbook of the school sighted by this newspaper, any student who has referral in three or more courses in a semester, repeats the class without getting the opportunity to resit.
But speaking to some affected trainees, they said the academic board, did not give them the opportunity to write their referral papers.
“In fact, what the management of the school is doing to us is unfair because we were supposed to be given the opportunity to write our referral papers but they said we should repeat in our classes, which is unfair”, they lamented.
Some also told this reporter that they only have two referral papers, but they have been denied the opportunity to resit.
“As we speak we have two referrals but the academic board of the school is insisting that we have failed so we should remain in our classes. The 2022 academic year started on January 10th, 2022 and we have started the first semester. Last week we were in our classes and the Principal came and sacked us and ordered us to go back to our previous classes”, they claimed.
“We have been begging the Principal and the Vice Principal to allow us to write our referral papers, but they have said no and we are being untreated fairly”, they added.
An angry affected student lamented that, “Per the rules, if any student fails continuously in a particular subject like Anatomy for three times when given the opportunity for resit then that student will be repeated but in our case the management of the school didn’t give us the opportunity to resit. As we I am speaking with you our colleagues who were promoted are doing quizzes and as for us we are stranded”.
Meanwhile, the matter has been reported to the Students’ Representative Council (SRC), PTA, Academic Board, some clergymen in the community to intervene, but to no avail.
These affected and worried students are, therefore appealing to the Ministry of Health, Ellembelle Health Directorate, Ellembelle District Chief Executive, Ellembelle Member of Parliament and others to as a matter of urgency, intervene and seek justice for them.
“We are using your medium to appeal to Government, Health Minister, Ellembelle DCE, Ellembelle MP, and Ellembelle District Health Directorate to come to our aid as soon as possible and if these fail to come to our aid immediately, we will demonstrate in the school and to register our displeasure”, they said.
Later, when The Herald contacted the Principal of the school, Mrs Ellen Opoku Boamah, for their side of the story, she refuted allegations by the students and asked our reporter to make enquiry from the Ministry of Health.
She also debunked the assertion that over 140 students of the school were repeated.
When she was asked to provide the number of students who were repeated, the Principal called the reporter’s bluff, saying “you can publish anything we don’t care about” and angrily hung up the line to the chagrin of the Journalist.
