“Student participation is still seen as optional” – World Education Blog

By Peter Kwasi Kodjie, All-Africa Students Union  

 I am Peter Kwasi Kodjie, Secretary General of the All-Africa Students’ Union. I have held this position since 2021, and my mandate will end later this year. During this time, I have seen both how far student representation has come in Africa and how fragile it still is. The All-Africa Students’ Union brings together student organisations from all 54 African countries. Our role is to ensure that students’ voices are present where decisions about education are made. In practice, this is still not guaranteed.  

My own journey into student leadership began early. In senior secondary school, I represented my institution. At university, I was elected Secretary of the Ghana Union of Professional Students, and later President of the National Union of Ghana Students, which represents learners from primary, secondary, and tertiary levels. These experiences taught me that when student participation depends on goodwill alone, it is often withdrawn. When it is protected by policy, it becomes effective.  

One of the main obstacles we face is cultural. In many contexts, young people and particularly female students are still seen as lacking legitimacy or capacity. I have sat in committees where university leaders openly questioned why students were present at all. These attitudes persist even when no formal rules prevent participation.  

Another challenge is the absence of legislation. Where laws require student representation, participation is stronger and more consistent. Where it is left to institutional discretion, student involvement becomes symbolic or disappears altogether. Funding also limits participation. Students are often invited to meetings without financial support, making sustained engagement impossible. Finally, some issues mobilise students more easily than others. Increases in fees generate broad attention, while concerns affecting smaller or marginalised groups struggle to gain the same support.  

Despite these constraints, student action has led to tangible change. The “Fees Must Fall” movement prevented increases in academic and facility user fees that would have excluded many students. During the COVID-19 pandemic, through the Global Education Coalition, we helped secure zero-rated internet access for educational purposes in several countries. We also worked with UNESCO’s Gender Division on the Girls Back to School campaign, which led many schools to relax admission rules for pregnant girls after the pandemic.  

We have also developed tools such as the Africa Students’ Charter, which sets out expectations for both governments and student unions on responsible and meaningful engagement. What remains clear is that student participation cannot rely on goodwill alone. It must be anchored in policy and legislation. Wherever decisions affect students, their voices must be part of the process not as an exception, but as a standard.  

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The All-Africa Students Union (AASU) is the umbrella organisation for all African students from the basic level to higher learning institutions and a very dominant force on the African Continent and beyond. With over 75 Member Unions across the Continent, AASU represents over 170 million students in Africa and the diaspora. Since its inception in 1972, AASU now has a presence in 54 Countries in Africa. The Union played an important role in the struggle against colonialism in Africa and the ending of apartheid in South Africa. Today, AASU is at the forefront of the fights for equal access to quality education, quality assurance in higher education, harmonisation of higher education systems – with key emphasis on the mobility of academics and comparability of qualifications, democratic governance, defending students’ rights, promotion of gender equality and African culture, sustainable development, entrepreneurship, fostering of academic freedom, freedom of research and autonomy of higher institutions of learning, and the promotion of peace and democratic values, and other noteworthy objectives. 

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