Re: University of Ghana orders students with CGPA below 1.00 to withdraw

Reference is made to the MyJoyOnline news publication of 23 October 2026 on the above. According to the report, the University of Ghana has once again ordered undergraduate students who obtained a Cumulative Grade Point Average (CGPA) below 1. 00 at the end of the 2025/2026 academic year to withdraw from the University. The story, culled from a publication on the University’s Facebook page, does not explain how this decision serves the best interests of the University, Ghana or the affected students. The University’s Academic Affairs Directorate merely states that the directive is in accordance with Section 9. 26 of the University Regulations for Junior Members (2017). Assuming it is important to identify and punish those responsible for breaching this regulation, why does the University believe that only the students must bear the consequences?

Failing an examination is only a small part of the academic process. To establish the causes of examination failure and determine where responsibility lies, we must also interrogate the quality of lecturers, the effectiveness of teaching methods, the accessibility of learning materials and the ratio of students to lecturers. We should also know whether the affected students have been interviewed by the University to understand the challenges that may have contributed to their poor grades. What if a student was dealing with trauma resulting from bereavement? What if a student lacked the resources to obtain adequate food and maintain the physical and mental well-being necessary to cope with the demands of academic life? Even if we were to conclude that the students themselves were solely responsible for failing their continuous assessments and examinations, that would still not justify denying a Ghanaian the opportunity to pursue…