International Relations Secretary of the National Union of Ghana Students (NUGS), Alexander Oppong Kyekyeku has expressed hope that evacuated Ghanaian students from Sudan would be integrated into various universities in the country.
This comes after the Union collaborated with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration to evacuate Ghanaian students from Sudan’s capital, Khartoum, after some disruptions occurred in the country due to the struggle for power over the country.
Speaking on Campus Exclusive, Oppong Kyekyeku mentioned that the evacuated students would go through some psychological processes before their integration into the country to help them heal from the trauma they experienced earlier.
“This is like the expected routine that would happen and the union is committed to ensuring that that happens for our students so they go through the psychological routine and all of these processes will have to continue. Thankfully we have much resource centers for psychological training in most of our universities as well.”
Oppong Kyekyeku went on to assure that the Union is working closely with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration to ensure that these students in Sudan are brought back to Ghana safely.
“Education should happen but it should happen in a safe and sound environment and so when you are evacuated like that, it is the peace that comes with the safety you have now that is really in your mind. I can confirm to you that all of our 77 students are safe and peaceful right now. We should be hoping to have them here with us in Ghana in the next few days. There is no set timeline yet; the ministry is working with timelines to get all of these things done but there are no set dates yet for their repatriation. For now, everyone is safe; I think that none of us would have enjoyed an atmosphere like that. “
Speaking on Ghanaian student leadership abroad, he suggested that countries with Ghanaian students lacking a proper structure of students leadership should put in measures to gather data on all students studying in those countries.
“Unfortunately, we don’t have tags on every single Ghanaians studying abroad, however it is possible to create that kind of relation. There is a big need for us to continue replicating the structures that exist in some of the countries where we have students’ leadership for Ghanaians in other countries where we do not have, because I don’t think that we need to always wait for moment like this to be able to gather information on our students and all of that. We are putting a lot in place to ensure that we are able to gather information on all of our students studying across the country and around the world.”
