Varsities lament hitches

-Of Academic work caused by internet service interruption

By Selorm GBORBIDZI, Accra

Students and lecturers from some public universities in the national capital have bemoaned the negative effects of the recent internet service interruption in Ghana and several other African states on their academic work.

The New Finder’s news team visited the University of Ghana Campus as well as The University of Professional Studies, Accra (UPSA) Campus to speak with students and faculty about their experiences.

University of Ghana

At the University of Ghana, the students we spoke with expressed their frustrations when attempting to access academic materials and school portals following the internet shutdown.
A Master’s level student, who identified himself as Livingston, stated that he had not been affected in his personal dealings as he uses the AT network.

However, he encountered difficulties accessing the internet using the student Wi-Fi on campus.

He mentioned that the interruption had hampered his ability to access journals and articles for his academic research since he could not access these academic portals without using the school’s network.

Another student, Elikplim, reported having an assignment to work on, but due to the network interruption, he was unable to complete the work as he could not find information online.

It also hindered his ability to communicate with his classmates to finalize the outcome of the assignment.

Dr. Cletus Agyenim-Boateng, a lecturer, mentioned in an interview that he faced challenges when attempting to conduct a Zoom session with his students.

He also expressed distress in trying to get in touch with family and friends during the blackout.

A female student, Esther Okraku, expressed her frustration as an off-campus student, stating that she encountered difficulties in her work since some of her classes are online.

UPSA

At the University of Professional Studies, some students detailed how the blackout had affected their academic work. ‘

Elvis Kumi, a level 300 student, initially had problems accessing his course materials and lectures due to the shutdown but later found a Virtual Private Network (VPN) that eased his troubles.

Another student, Christabel Abla, mentioned that the shutdown affected class activities as they were unable to access slides sent by their lecturers and had difficulties attending online classes.
However, she noted that there were occasional periods with sufficient bandwidth, allowing them to get some work done.

Daniel Mortey, a second-year student, found it hard to access the school’s Learning Management System and examination results online.

He also highlighted the challenges of downloading slides and accessing information due to the weak Wi-Fi signal on campus.