Division in society reflecting in universities—-Dr. Shettima
‘’Division in the society is currently reflecting in the universities and thus affecting the quality of education in the institutions’’ the Africa Director, MacArthur foundation, Dr. Kole Ahmed Shettima has observed. He made the observation in view of various restrictive measures being placed on admission as well as the recruitment of staff into the universities […]
‘’Division in the society is currently reflecting in the universities and thus affecting the quality of education in the institutions’’ the Africa Director, MacArthur foundation, Dr. Kole Ahmed Shettima has observed.
He made the observation in view of various restrictive measures being placed on admission as well as the recruitment of staff into the universities which he said has robbed the University of its meaning.
Speaking on Monday in Kano at a youth interactive seminar tagged ‘’Inspiring Leadership Reflection Interactive Series (ILERIS) organized by the Centre for Information Technology and Development (CITAD), Dr. Shettima recalled the role student activism had played in late 70s and early 80s in the intellectual development of the country describing it as a unifying factor binding students beyond religious or ethnic identities.
He lamented over current development in the universities where admissions and recruitment of staff are being considered on the bases of religion or ethnicity.
‘’The university is a reflection of our society. Our society is getting divided every day. In the same building you find two mosques, two churches. I go to that mosque, you go to that mosque, I go to this church you go to that church. I think that division in society has now come to reflect in our universities. The decay in the general society is reflecting in the universities.
‘’Even though the universities are supposed to be universal, it was supposed to bring students from different backgrounds teachers from different backgrounds increasingly, our universities are becoming too narrow in terms of their base. You go to a university you find out that everybody probably goes to the same mosque from the same state they practice the same religion so the whole concept of university is lost in that kind of situation’’ he said.
He called on various stakeholders to make ‘’conscious effort to ensure that students are actively recruited from every part of the country from every ethnic group from every religious group so that we don’t narrow the system to people just coming from same tradition, we should look at our recruitment system, try to expand it as possible so that it would enable people from port Harcourt to come to Maiduguri vice versa’’ he added.