With the second semester for the 2020/2021 session already underway, it is of nothing less than excitement for the students especially having been greeted last week with the seemingly and relatively auspicious academic calendar.
Exams spanned four weeks, and the five-month old
first semester was successfully rounded off.
To some, it is a semester to look back on, to others, it’s a semester to get over and just move on. But to us, it is a semester we opine should not just be counted among the many but one to bring under the spotlight to strangle out highlights and lowlights to ensure that subsequent semesters – especially the one underway – have far better lots and consolidation on wins.
One of the positives we could consolidate on is the peaceful conflict-resolution skill of the management on potential crisis situation between the school and the students’ leaders. You will recall that at the wee stages of last semester, there were moves to stage a protest upon a 5-count demands from the students’ leaders. The media, the students were all ready to have the protest staged but for the intervention of the school management in holding it off, summoning the students leaders to a dialogue that saw their demands addressed and the protest was called off.
Although, some of the demands were not met, but it will be agreed on that a peaceful conflict-resolution such as this has been far-off from the school for a while. As such, this is an encouragement to the school to continue on the path of dialogue with students to have issues resolved rationally and harmoniously.
Another positive to be drawn is the security measures the school did put in place last semester to ensure that no security breach whatsoever takes place in the school with lives and properties fully secured beyond harm.
We saw the management very stiff with cars coming into the school. We recognize the efforts of the patrol team, strategically traversing the school on the lookout for security threats to purge out. All these and other intrinsic security measures from the school contributed to the success the school racked up last semester in complement to other semesters in the school history.
The school also returned the Students Union Government after three years since the school had one, with the Babatunde Ganiu Adeola a.k.a Babs administration currently on, functioning constitutionally as the elected Students Union in the polytechnic. Despite the hurdles encountered towards the realization of this, the management soldiered on in their resolve to bringing back the constitutionally recognized voice of students on campus to ensure that it runs a student-inclusive school. This is a positive worthy of recognition.
Though some might counter that taking into cognizance the controversial process that was deployed to bring in the new administration, one that allegedly disenfranchised 99% of the students’ populace. Though the school made it clear the reason the electoral college was opted for, but the truth remains that with only 23 delegates allowed to vote on behalf of a thousand students, that will always remain a lowlight in the record of events. A necessary evil you might want to term it considering the fact that the school needed to deploy that means to ensure that this semester has the popular open-ballot system with the franchise of all students unfettered, it still does not take away the lowlight from it – one that made last semester one to forget in a hurry. In all, it is in the hope that the pain endured by most students last semester will be placated with the joy of franchise for all this semester as promised by the school management.
Should we also mention the afflictive transportation troubles last semester parceled to students? For zillion times, students bemoaned and bemoaned and bemoaned the shortage of buses at designated parks to have them transported to school in convenience, such that one starts to think if transportation ease is too much to ask from the school? The SUG in its manifesto avowed to have the perennial transportation issues solved. We saw releases and updates of moves made to that effect. There was also a filling and partial grading of the infamous Ojere road. All these were done but never depleted the transportation challenges upon having the curtain closed on last semester. The fear is: are we going to resume once again still having to brace up to chase buses as much as we are ready to chase our academics?
Registration stress also never went down well with any student on campus as they had to go through the onerous and antiquated process of printing, photocopying, writing, arranging, queuing and submitting numbers of documents to a staff who ratios an unprintable number of students per day.
This, in comparison with what is obtainable in some other institutions, is painful – for lack of a better word. Technology for development is touted to be our motto, but seeing us still operating an antiquated system that is torturing to students and even threatening to their life – as we once had a roof fall off at the spot where students queue to submit documents but thankfully, no student was present there on that day – is shameful.
Among others, if the standard voting process for the SUG is returned, if transportation hassles get eradicated and if registration is made digital, then a second semester to not only remember but immortalize will it be.
