Five Dr. John Garang University students arrested over protest

At least five students from Dr. John Garang Memorials University of Science and Technology have been detained for pretesting an order given by the University’s administration to repeat a class in case one fails a course.

Maj Gen. Joseph Mayen Akoon, the police commissioner in Jonglei state confirmed that some students were arrested but he was unsure how many they were.

“I just heard the information this [Tuesday] morning that the students from Dr John Garang University were trying to close down the classes and the administrative offices I think some student failed the examinations so they were told to repeat but they refused to accept to repeat the class, this is what I was told,” he said. 

He implied that the problem could be that those students were trying to cause violence because in Jonglei there have been a lot of problems but the police don’t interfere when there is peaceful demonstration.

“If there are people arrested, then I think it was because those people were trying to cause violence,” he said.

He explained that detaining somebody does not mean the problem gets solved quickly, adding that the students will be held until calm is restored.

 “There was a policy set by the university. The senate sat and discussed the issue of school regulation 2021 and 2022 but before there is a carryover but at this time, they said there is no carryover, but the students sat and agreed this policy cannot work and the students decided to go on strike,” he said.

The students who went on strike claimed that the new policy is supposed to be implemented for 2021 -2022 results.

“We went on strike in the morning hours and then the school administration came with a number of soldiers and they took the ring leaders, five of them were arrested and they are there at the police station,” said a student who spoke anonymously.

The new policy has affected over 150 students. The mayhem also disrupted lectures.