Review of “The Ideal Campus System” — A Lofty West African Student Dream
Inside the walls of University are the silent cries of abandoned dreams, forgotten expostulations and a constant race to please the lecturer who is God. Usually, during the matriculation ceremony, new students swear oaths to be law-abiding, pursue learning with a burning quest to become better citizens of Nigeria. In return, they come to have mediocre learning conditions and unreasonable fear of authority. HELP Foundation, a student-led initiative with a conviction to organize Campus Re-Orientation Programs in Nigeria compiled the following 11-point parameters as stated in the HELP handbook to further disseminate and entrench the message of rejecting mediocre systems across universities in West Africa ( sadly, this is not synonymous with only Nigeria).
Peace and Security
An environment desensitized to avoidable deaths, theft, and rape contribute to the advancement of neither the student nor the society. The loss of property and life is no new phenomenon on the Nigerian campus. On 31st May, A 22-year-old 100 Level student, Uwavera Omozuwa, was allegedly beaten, raped and murdered inside a church building on the University of Benin campus. Omozuwa would still be alive today if the officials who are to prioritize her safety had found her promptly. Moreover, as we speak, the suspect has not been apprehended. What is the cost of installing CCTV on a Nigerian campus, adequate lighting, and sufficient ventilation? We might never know.
Ease and Convenience
In the African setting, struggle not hard work is the only due path to success in life. Therefore, before you register your courses, make payment for a semester, you must set out at dawn to go shove and push while on a queue under the baking sun to illustrate how much success means to you. Sadly, necessities such as clean toilets with clean running water, facilities for students with special needs, electronic handouts are a luxury. Daily, the number of private hostels built daily continues to skyrocket.
Curriculum Review
It is indefensible that students still have to go through the same abysmal method of learning as was over a century ago. A graduate should be an example of what it means to be enlightened. With an archaic curriculum, it is ultimately an extreme sport. Subsequent punishment awaits if you dare to deviate, question or interrogate subject matters. As a fresher, you learn very quick all that is required to pass exams is to employ the manner of computers (GIGO).
Staff — Students Relationship Regulation
Regrettably, students do not have a say in the selection process of a lecturer. The absence of a reputable mediating body is the greatest disservice to the school’s primary stakeholder (students). Human beings cannot thrive devoid of communication. To abolish staff-student communication is impossible; it is the basis for all learning. There needs to be a regulatory body in the charge of weeding out any lecturer culpable of abusing their power on campus.
Disciplinary Process
The hostility suffered by numerous students who have had to appear on a panel consisting of lecturers and non-teaching staff who are supposed to be openhearted and fair is alarming. There is always the unanimous decision to interrogate viciously; so much so that what would have been a learning experience for the student usually turn out to be a disgraceful one.
Time Management
Lecturers never fail to remind students that they are the object of an unideal system. The disrespect for stipulated lecture hours by lecturers is the antithesis of what any university is supposed to instil in students. Students who have separate lives away from their academic life should be able to thrive and not suffer substantially.
Management Accountability
The school management owe it to students to deliver on their part of the social contract. A system unchecked is bound to ignore opportunities for growth and development. Students should not be the only party echoing the school’s mission and vision. The Student Representative Council (SRC) has lost it’s competency through constant interference from the school management. The question now is, who watches the watchman?
Affordability
Government and management might argue that getting an education in a public university is relatively cheap, the reality negates that. The first point is, the average tuition fee across schools is above the nation’s minimum wage. Starting with the outrageous fee known as the “acceptance fee” in addition to the hostel fee, cost of living and transportation, cost of handouts and other unplanned expenses all in the absence of a utilitarian, accessible advance system of payment, you would agree the cost of education per student is high-priced.
Program Flexibility
Lecturers travel around the world to attend workshops and conferences. They are considerably exposed to how students use their devices and the internet for their classes. The corona virus pandemic has revealed the inadequacies of most universities in their lack of foresight in introducing an alternative online class option. Tertiary institutions in other continents have been significantly unaffected because of this. There is a working blueprint from these countries, how difficult can it be to duplicate.
An ideal campus system has existed at a time in the history of Africa, it is not oppugnant that we demand that it be a thing again in our generation. To read more on some of the other compelling arguments made in the HELP handbook on issues such as health and student freedoms and unionism plaguing students.
Here is the link: https://help4students.org.ng/library/
