The plight of KASU students

The ancient African aphorism that when two elephants fight, it is the grass that suffers finds truth in the current predicament that Kaduna State University (KASU) students are subsumed in.  I joined the university with high hopes of pursuing a world class education, but unknown to me, KASU is an unstable element constantly ready to […]

The ancient African aphorism that when two elephants fight, it is the grass that suffers finds truth in the current predicament that Kaduna State University (KASU) students are subsumed in. 

I joined the university with high hopes of pursuing a world class education, but unknown to me, KASU is an unstable element constantly ready to explode. Despite removing KASU from the notorious clutch of ASUU in 2019, the university somehow managed to plunge itself into havoc in accord with the association.  

The second semester began the first week of January. Two weeks in, only a few departments had started lectures as is the custom of this institution. Four more weeks of lectures followed. On February 14,  2022, the strike commenced  and KASU lecturers quietly joined. During the period of five-and-a-half months, the management of the institution released a gazillion newsletters/memos pretending that the school was still in session, with almost half a dozen of resumption dates constantly indicating the nearness of examinations.  

Was this an attempt to ward off the incumbent governor? I’m not sure exactly. This move kept triggering tachycardia in the students. Soon enough, we adopted the Nigerian superpower of adaptation and laughed at any or all news of KASU’s supposed examination or resumption date.  

We had even come to expect it at the start of every week. We sailed our ears to ASUU news instead. By the end of July, His Excellency, the governor of Kaduna State had threatened lecturers to resume work or get relieved of their jobs, as seen on all news outlets.  

Sure enough, the lecturers dusted off their suits and headed straight back to work. They went ready to obey the clarion call. This was after vacationing on full pay without work. How ridiculous and incredulous, they begin to administer examinations on students knowing full well that only a month’s worth of lecture contact was established. 

How this seemed like a magnificent idea to a bunch of highly rated educationists, is truly beyond me. I can say for sure that in my class there is a lecturer that has never come and didn’t even bother sending lecture notes; another had attended two classes still without issuing handouts.  

This is the case with various departments. It turned out it is yet another feature of this institution. Has KASU come to produce half-baked students for the society? It appears that is the cardinal principle of these scholars. Dear reader, do not let my mild tone sway you from the seriousness of this matter. I’m highly aggrieved and furious for it is my GP that would be dancing _o lo lo lo…buga oh_. Little wonder, the rate of exam malpractice in this university is rattling.  

As a prisoner of a failed system that I am, I bear my heavy chains and walk into the battlefield with hands cuffed behind my back, muffling my cries, streaming my tears as cameras click for social media pictures to depict a lucky KASU student whose governor clamped the ‘mighty ASUU’, sitting for examinations for which she knows next to nothing about. Perhaps, after this charade, KASU would finally find it within itself to release our pending first semester results that have hindered qualified students from applying for national scholarships. This is the soliloquy of a new KASU student. I know I am not alone in this misfortune, we demand better!  

 

Asma’u Ahmed wrote via [email protected]