After ten months, the students of University of Ibadan are finally resuming for the 2019/2020 session, renamed 2020/2021 session. The months of waiting and hoping by the students have now ended in a half victory as the strike was finally called off but the Corona virus pandemic continues.
The university of Ibadan has made a wise decision in adopting online learning as the means for lecturing this semester, as the school has admitted to us that it is currently unable to put guidelines in place to protect the students from contracting the virus if they happen to adopt the traditional physical learning. However, the quality of this method has cast doubt in the minds of many students.
Early last year at the inception of the global pandemic, a lot of schools around the world and in Nigeria adopted this online mode of learning. The University of Ibadan did not see the school adopting such method due to lack of resources. The lecturers at the university were on strike at the time. This was written in an article by newspotng.com where a lecturer of great importance from the university admitted University of Ibadan is not ready for such and might take some years before the university is eventually ready. The article has been taken down as clicking on the link which was sent to different group chats associated with different organisations in the university will ultimately lead to a 404 page.(A not available page) Fast forward to a month after the nationwide ASUU strike was called off, what was foreseen to take some years to achieve took only a number of weeks.
These events is easy to cause scepticism in the minds of a university of Ibadan student. It is advised to not rely solely on the teachings gotten from this system. The university might be able to deliver on this promise of a semester of sole online learning but not all students might be adept in understanding or using such method in receiving lectures. It is best to supplement the teachings with materials from the internet, approved textbooks and materials from lecturers if you are able to get your hands on any.
The disbelief in this method is evident in the alacrity the students employed in searching for accommodation close enough to the university, not minding the exorbitant prices. One would have thought the civil unrest that has been going on across the country will discourage the students but that did not happen. The massive rate of relocation might also be due to the inability of some students to study effectively and without distractions in their homes.
The increase in the school fees which came as a shock is believed to be unnecessary by many due to the student not receiving lectures in the school. The section of the fees that were increased are also sections which might not be affected by the students activity this new semester. They are the technology fee section and the sporting section. This increment is believed to be coming at the wrong time for students as most people are still recovering from the adverse effects the pandemic had on their finances. As it is not an important increase it should be removed but the university is yet to comply to the students union’s request for a fee reduction.
The 2018/2019 semester results are yet to be released and this has become a worry as old students need the results to make informed decisions about courses to register. The university portal is also not yet accessible to old students so there is also the inability to pay school fees.
All these issues surrounding the school’s resumption for the new session is what University of Ibadan students have to deal with while navigating the unknown territory of online learning. Queen Idia press wishes all students a happy resumption and enough strength to tackle the issues that have and will arise this new semester.