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 an education, especially when they can afford it.

This is because the 1992 Constitution of Ghana recognises the right to educational opportunities. This right is not conditional upon a student’s ability to maintain a CGPA above 1.00.

Article 25(1) of the 1992 Constitution provides:

“All persons shall have the right to equal educational opportunities and facilities and with a view to achieving the full realisation of that right—

**(a) **basic education shall be free, compulsory and available to all;

(b) secondary education in its different forms, including technical and vocational education, shall be made generally available and accessible to all by every appropriate means, and in particular, by the progressive introduction of free education;

**(c) **higher education shall be made equally accessible to all, on the basis of capacity, by every appropriate means, and in particular, by the progressive introduction of free education;

A few points are worth noting from the above. The Constitution recognises the right of all persons to equal educational opportunities and facilities.

Basic education must be free, compulsory and available to all.

Until secondary and higher education are made free, as envisaged by the Constitution, every Ghanaian who is interested in pursuing such education and can afford to pay for it should have the opportunity to do so.

Using a CGPA requirement above 1.00 to deny people educational opportunities is a denial of their right to education and, in my view, runs contrary to the spirit of the Constitution. We should be clear that this decision is not about telling students to resit their examination papers or repeat their year of study. They have been dismissed from the University.

This practice is not only an infringement on the Constitution of Ghana, but it also makes a mockery of the University’s full-fee-paying policy. This policy allows the University to admit students who are less academically qualified than others with better grades because the former can pay full fees without government subvention.

The apparent irony is that some students admitted under such arrangements subsequently succeed academically when given the opportunity. Today in Ghana, we have medical doctors who were admitted to study biological science with an aggregate of six in their Senior Secondary School Certificate results and those who came on the full fee-paying route with terrible grades but are also successful medical doctors.

If the University can recognise that students with comparatively weak entry grades may succeed when given a chance, why should it be so quick to abandon students who struggle after admission? Should the institution not first examine the factors responsible for their difficulties and explore reasonable opportunities for improvement?

This recurring practice does not merely raise questions about the University’s commitment to the future of the students entrusted to its care; it also raises questions about its approach to academic preparation and student development. How does denying students who have performed poorly in examinations the opportunity to receive further academic training solve the problem, when the very purpose of education is to develop knowledge, skills and competence?

A university does not exist merely to train students who are already academically accomplished. It should also provide opportunities for learning, growth and transformation. It is a place where people are equipped to become something more than they were when they arrived. As Ghana’s premier university, the University of Ghana is one of the institutions upon which the nation depends to prepare young people for leadership and responsible citizenship.

Not all of us can become biological scientists or engineers, but each of us can make a meaningful contribution to society in our own way. It is the responsibility of the University, particularly one of the standing of the University of Ghana, to help students discover and develop their potential, especially when they have placed their confidence in the institution by seeking its training.

Education is recognised as a human right because, beyond academic performance, people need the educational process itself: the academic environment, extracurricular activities, discipline, social interaction and opportunities for personal development. These experiences can help students discover their abilities and find their place in society.

How many of the University administrators who took this decision, which could affect hundreds of other people’s children, would deny their own children the opportunity to continue their education because they had failed to attain a CGPA of 1.00?

I call on the management of the University to reverse this decision immediately and remove this provision from the University Regulations for Junior Members. Alternatively, the management should resign, since it has failed to understand and carry out its mandate in the spirit of the 1992 Constitution of Ghana regarding education.

Benjamin Akyena Brantuo
Former JCR President
Commonwealth Hall, University of Ghana
[email protected]