Chaos at IPMC

Students of Intercom Programming and Manufacturing Company Limited (IPMC), one of the leading IT training institutions in the country, are up in arms against management of the school for what they described as deliberate moves by management to milk them financially.

Today can authoritatively report that tempers are flaring up at the Accra-Tudu campus of IPMC as students are currently protesting against a10-day vacation period of their 2010 first semester.
The students argue that the 10-day vacation period is too short and that it is a deliberate ploy by management to exploit them financially.

According to them, this was in respect of the fact that their management wanted to force them to pay tuition fees for the second semester within that short period.

The students insist that this was not feasible since they will need more time to raise funds to pay for their tuition.
Today can reveal that IPMC management’s refusal to heed to the students’ concern to grant them their usual one month vacation even compelled them to embark on a mild demonstration last Friday, 23rd April, 2010.

The irate students, who wore red bands, defied all odds and ignored lectures on that day and walked through the principal streets of Accra to picket against the new directive (10-day vacation period).

During the demonstration, the paper was reliably informed that the students walked straight to the IPMC headquarters located a few metres away from the Tudu campus and presented their petition to the authorities.

According to the enraged students, management announced this month that the school will vacate on the 18th of June and resume in 10 days time which has not been the case over the past years.

What is more, they also hinted, among other things, that the directors, for reasons best known to themselves, do not allow them to use computers at the computer laboratory for their practical assignments, but have only been limited to manual type-writers for their assignments.

“What we are saying is that the fees are very expensive so our parents and those of us fending and taking care of ourselves would need some time to organise ourselves and mobilise funds for the next semester so the 10-day vacation is not appropriate. What baffles us is that this has never happened before so why are they adopting this directive?” one concerned student pointed out.

“They just want money again from us after we have paid fees for this semester. The 10-day vacation is just a smart move by IPMC management to make money. I will tell you in plain language that this is extortion in disguise,” many of the students stressed.

“Upon all the money they charge as tuition fees, they don’t even allow us to use the computer laboratory for our assignments and practicals. We use type-writers for all our projects that is why we were compelled to demonstrate because when we complained, management did not heed to our concerns,” another student noted.

When Today visited the IPMC Tudu campus in Accra, authorities refused to comment on the issue as everyone the paper approached responded that he or she did not have the appropriate power and authority to speak.

Most of the lecturers, for fear of losing their jobs, also refused to comment on the matter.