LAME IN CAMPUS SECURITY, THE REASON FOR UPRISE IN HOSTEL ROBBERY
The
rising spade of robbery of students in various hostels has dangled the need to
sound a wake-up call to the SRC to take the security of students’ lives and
properties as important as the eagle’s eye. An eagle uses its incredibly strong
feet and sharp claws (talons) to defend its eaglet and inflict painful bites
with its strong beak on predators. The eagle seems to be over protective—perhaps
it values its eaglets so much. What about our leaders, I question?
The key
players of our security are expected to know that, an environment like ours
inhibits the nectar that attracts unscrupulous persons (Robbers). The school
has recorded not less than single occurrence of theft case which should have
put the student Leadership and hostel managers on guard yet the vacuum has
still been left unpaced to the disposure of robbers to be devoured. It is
disheartening that the effort to protect the lives and properties of students
is rather recessive and retrogressive. Security on campus and outside campus is
rather manned to protect properties of the school and not the humans in it.
This is gross unfairness to humanity. The average student’s pocket money cannot
afford three meals a day let alone lose his/her belongings. When will the
plight of these vulnerable ones be satiated?
Not to
awaken the pains of students who have been victimised but to recall an event
that occurred in the sight of campus security personnel. One Obeng Felix of
Computer Networking accounts an inflicted agony on how the careless and
negligence of our security had him fill a bucket with tears. It was a fine
Monday morning, where as usual all academic activities have returned to its accustomed
duty. Obeng Felix had mid-semester exam to write—so he came to campus with his
laptop, pocket MI-FI, money and Identity cards (ID cards) to catch-up his
itinerary after the exams. Since his department do not accommodate foreign
materials in its laboratories, a shelf has been created to keep bags and other
prohibited belongings which is manned by a security at post. Just like the
activities of hackers, if you establish security and leave loopholes, they will
take advantage of the vulnerabilities and attack the system. Same
vulnerabilities in the security system established at the Computer Science
department got him robbed. The lame security has been a threat to the lives and
properties of students. Predicting unforeseen circumstances, I don’t think the
now campus security system is apt to combat and protect students. Attention
must be given to the properties of students too and not school’s property only.
Security at the hostels by measure is beyond poor and it is time for school
authorities to set security criteria for the hostels to meet before they are
certified and advertised on the official school’s website.
In my
opinion, every hostel must have security personnel linked to campus security
and the Community Police Post for effective communication and protection. There
should be a quick response system to enhance surveillance, routes to hostels
should be wide enough to have free space to stand against assailants, the SRC
should consistently advocate for the New Juaben Municipal Assembly (NJMA) to erect
street lights along routes leading to hostels, and proper lightening system
must be enhanced to enable clear sight from the required distance and diameters
by certifications.
This is
a wake-up call for School Authorities and the SRC to value the lives and
properties of students. There has been numerous occurrences of theft cases and
attack on students’ lives, yet little or no drastic measures have been taken to
prevent such events.
JESSIE
ASANTE
COMPUTER
SCIENCE
KOFORIDUA TECHNICAL UNIVERSITY
