Source: Global Press Institute Website. Reported by Lily Mensah
ACCRA, GHANA – In a small, crowded classroom on the campus of Ghana Institute of Journalism in Accra, Ghana’s capital, more than 60 students converge every Wednesday to give voice to issues concerning them using a new student publication.
The platform, called “Keteke,” is a new student initiative founded by Samuel Creppy, a 25-year-old student in his second year at the institute. Creppy says the goal of the platform is twofold: to strengthen the students’ voices on issues that concern them and to practice the skills they are learning in the classroom.
"The fact that a communication institute had no radio station and also does not have its own newspaper was a worry to us."
“As a result, I came up with an initiative, which will serve as a platform for students to air their views and practice what they are being taught in the institute,” he says.
Keteke has three means of disseminating information: a tabloid, a newsletter, and a website that features news and blogs. The tabloid comes out every two weeks, and the newsletter comes out twice every semester.
Keteke means “train” in the local Ga dialect.
Creppe says just as trains are fast and accommodating, he hopes Keteke will be a fast, dynamic information source for a diverse population.
At the Ghana Institute of Journalism, students started their own publication after noticing the need for freedom of expression on campus. The club also offers a platform for students to practice what they learn in the classroom, all the while honing their entrepreneurial skills. This initiative is unique, as many universities across the country do not have student-run publications. The main challenge for Keteke is funding, but the group is optimistic and has set goals to expand to other campuses in the next few years.
Many universities do not have student-run publications, according to students from various schools.
At the Ghana Institute of Journalism, Ashong says that Keteke has gained the highest membership of any student group within its first year. Francis Gbadago, the current president of the Student Representative Council, the university’s student-government body, confirmed this.
Keteke fills a void detected by students at the Ghana Institute of Journalism, says Gabriel Obodai Torgbor Ashong, co-founder and chairman of the initiative.
“As students of GIJ, we saw a number of challenges,” says Ashong, who is in his second year at the institute studying journalism.
In the classroom, students learn about the importance of freedom of expression to democracy. The student-led organization, which started barely a year ago, is crucial to practicing this tenet on campus, Ashong says.
“The fact that GIJ being a communication institute, which has been in existence for over 50 years, has no radio station and also does not have its own newspaper was a worry to us,” Ashong says.
Gbadago, president of the Student Representative Council, calls Keteke a step in the right direction.
The students strive to use Keteke to bridge the communication gap between school administrators and students in order to address challenges that students face.
For example, the lack of online communications forced students to commute to school during vacation in order to find out their tuition costs for the coming semester. The application process was also tedious for prospective candidates because they also had to come to the campus to complete it.
As first-year students, Creppy and Ashong felt it was necessary to address these and many other challenges hampering students’ academic experience.
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