Friday, 27 July 2012
POST-UTME EXPLOITATION CONTINUES
Adequate Funding and Democratic Management is the Key
By Keye Ewebiyi
Seven years after the introduction of Post-UTME screening exercise into tertiary education system in Nigeria, the exploitation of students under the guise of this exercise has remained unwavering. The screening exercise was introduced as a result of the alleged failure of the Joint Admission and Matriculation Board (JAMB) to conduct a Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) that is acceptable to the authorities of tertiary institutions. But the Post-UTME exercise has over the years been turned into a money-making venture by shylock school administrators with the introduction of various questionable fees to exploit admission seekers. The fees include examination fee, result-checking fee, processing fees, bank administrative charges etc. While some schools collect these fees as a lump sum, others collect separately.The motive behind the Post-UTME exercise has largely been defeated considering the reported cases of examination malpractice, question leakages and commercialization of admission by school officials.
Admission seekers are made to pay through their nose to sit for the exam. For the 2012/2013 Post-UTME screening exercise, candidates are expected to pay between N2,000 and N10,000 as screening fees. This is aside the cost of transportation, accommodation and other miscellaneous expenses that will be incurred in the course of writing the examination. The situation is even more problematic for those who had to travel long distance to write the examination given the poor state of our roads and alarming rate of insecurity across the country. Both public and private institutions are culprits. For instance, while the Lagos State University (LASU), University of Lagos (UNILAG) and Ahmadu Bello University (ABU) charged between N1,000 and N2,000, Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU), Tai Solarin University of Education (TASUED) and Veritas University charge between N5,000 and N10,000. The case of OAU is quite appalling. The University management initially charged N2,350 as screening fee and on the release of screening results, candidates were made to part with an additional N3,350 to check their results, which they were oblivious of in the beginning.
This abuse of Post-UTME exercise constitutes a disregard of Nigerian Senate's directive that institutions should not charge beyond N2,000 as screening fees. The Senate had on Thursday, 9th February, 2012, considered the report of its Committee on Education on the investigation of the illegality of Post-UTME and the failure of JAMB to conduct examinations acceptable to universities. It approved Examinations-for-admission fee to tertiary institutions to be a unified and one-stop (but composite) charge and also recommended a gross charge of N6,000.00 per candidate - N4,000.00 to JAMB and N2,000.00 to an institution. But what we have today is a situation in which candidates are made to pay about N6,000 for UTME and over N2,000 for Post-UTME.
The Senate further stated that the disregard of the ceiling on a composite examination charge should attract reprimand, suspension or termination of appointment of an earring Head of Tertiary Institution. But till now, none of these officials has been brought to book.
The continuous fall in the standard of education as evident in the mass failure recorded in the WAEC and NECO Senior Secondary Certificate Examination (SSCE) year in year out and the failure of Nigerian universities to make the top twenty universities in Africa has shown that the way out of this quagmire goes beyond Post-UTME. The writing of Post-UTME has not fundamentally addressed the problems confronting tertiary education. The Education Rights Campaign (ERC) predicted 6 years ago that Post-UTME education would not solve the myriad of problems if education is not well funded and there is no democratic management of the education sector with elected representatives of education workers and students actively involved in decision making processes.
Admission figures show clearly that the crisis in the sector is growing. For instance, out of 1,493,603 candidates that wrote the 2011 UTME, a meager 467,000 gained admissions to various institutions for the 2011/2012 academic session. With 1,503,931 candidates writing the 2012 UTME, making it the highest number of candidates ever to write the annual examination, it is only fraction of them that will be eventually admitted when no serious effort has been made by government in the past years to develop the capacity of the existing public universities. Year 2011 offered worrisome statistics on applications for admission identifying the five 'most preferred' universities of candidates' first choices as UNILAG (99,145), ABU Zaria (89,760), UNN (88,177), NAU Awka (84,719) and UNIBEN (80,976) even when maximum quota allocations approved by the Nigerian Universities Commission (NUC) are 6,106 (UNILAG), 6,068 (ABU Zaria), 5970(UNN) and 6,100 (UNIBEN).
What is needed is a committed effort by government to invest massively in the ailing education sector with the revamping of infrastructural and academic facilities on all campuses, including setting up of more tertiary institutions. This however cannot be possible under a government that runs society on the basis of "profit first" through the implementation of anti-poor policies of privatization and commercialization. Only a socialist economy can guarantee free and quality education for all regardless of age, sex, religious, ethnic of economic background because funding of education and other basic amenities will be taken as priority and all human and natural resources shall be channeled towards meeting the education needs of all.
Thursday, 26 July 2012
OAU: STUDENTS MARK 13TH ANNIVERSARY OF JULY 10 CULT KILLINGS WITHOUT A UNION
For immediate restoration of independent students' unionism
By Odunayo
Secretary, OAU DSM branch
Students at the July 10 Symposium |
July 10 is perhaps the darkest day
in the history of Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU). In 1999 it was the day when
heavily armed cultists allegedly sponsored by the then Vice Chancellor of the
University, Prof. Wale Omole, stormed the University and killed 5 student union
leaders.
The
slain students were George Yemi Iwilade (the then General Secretary of the
students' union), Babatunde Oke (a part 1 student and a member of DSM), Efe
Ekede (part 3 Psychology), Eviano Ekelemu (part 4 medicine) and Yemi Ajiteru
(an extra student). The backdrop to these brutal killings was the struggle of
the Students Union for reinstatement of victimized student leaders and against
anti-poor education policies of the government and university management.
To
commemorate the 13th anniversary of this day, a symposium and candle-lit
procession was organized at OAU by the Students Security Committee which was
massively attended by students. Speaking at the symposium were Lanre Adeleke
(former OAU Union president and DSM member), Akinola Saburi (another former
Union president) and Adeleke Olorunwa (DSM member). The trio highlighted the
history of the July 10 cult killings and the lessons worth learning from the
incident.
Lanre
Adeleke who was the Union President at that time of the killings narrated how
it happened. According to him, in the early hours of that fateful day, men of
the black axe confraternity stormed the campus and gruesomely murdered the five
students. It is also on record that most of the notorious cultists were
apprehended by organized great Ife students and they confessed to have been
sponsored by the then Vice-Chancellor (Prof. Wale Omole). He lamented that due
to the corrupt judicial system in Nigeria, the cultists were later discharged
and acquitted and so 13 years down the line, OAU students are still crying out
for justice.
George Iwilade Afrika |
The
speakers pointed out that the most important thing now is for students to draw
lessons from the sad incident and ensure that the labour of the fallen martyrs
is not in vain. They were victims of the struggle for the defense of students'
interests and rights. Afrika as the Secretary General of the Students Union
played a leading role in the fight for the right to independent students'
unionism and against anti-student policies like commercialization and
privatization of education as well as campus cultism.
The
anniversary of the July 10 cult killings has again highlighted the continuous
attack on independent unionism in Nigeria. In OAU, attacks on independent
unionism have not subsided, instead it has sharply increased over the last few
years. 13 years after the killings, genuine student and worker activists who
support struggles to demand and defend basic democratic rights are still being
witch hunted by the university administration. The most recent has been the
undemocratic proscription of the OAU students' union. The union was proscribed
17 months ago due to a peaceful protest organised by students against an
astronomic increment in acceptance fees for fresh students.
Students
have however shown a growing interest to fervently struggle for the union's
restoration. This was reflected in students' active participation in the July
10 remembrance activities despite the ongoing examination. Aside from the over
500 that attended the symposium, a far larger crowd turned up for the bonfire
and candle-lit procession on 10th July.
The
DSM commends students for their resoluteness and the only way to uphold the
legacy of the fallen heroes in July 10, 1999 is to step up the struggle for the
restoration of the union and against anti-poor attacks on public education.
It
is important to note that the events of July 10 and the spirited fight back by
conscious and organized great Ife students led to a decline in cult activities
in OAU. This is not accidental but a product of the presence of a militant and
independent union that can curb such activities.
This
enviable tradition must not be allowed to die. The proscription of the union
provides an opportunity for cult and other violent groups to thrive. Recent
happenings on OAU campus gives reason to fear cultists are again regrouping and
organizing on the campus. In the course of the semester, there were reports of
at least 2 cult initiations.
The
DSM joins all great Ife students in the demand for the immediate restoration of
the students' union and the recall of Wale Owolabi (a student activist who was
victimized for participating in a protest against fee hike). We also demand the
immediate and unconditional restoration of all banned unions across campuses in
Nigeria. This is imperative to build a mass based formidable students movement
that can counterweight cultism and oppose all anti-student policies.
To
achieve this, there is the need for students to demand the democratization of
the decision making organs of the universities to include elected
representatives of workers and students. This will ensure a democratic process
through which principal officers of universities emerge as against the current
process shrouded in secrecy and corruption.
Students
must however realize that under the current system of capitalism, these
demands, if met are not sustainable. Students must be therefore ready to
struggle for proper funding of education and ultimately join the campaign for a
mass based political party armed with socialist programs. The Democratic
Socialist Movement (DSM) has taken a practical step towards this end by
launching the Socialist Party of Nigeria (SPN). We hereby enjoin students to
join the party and participate actively in its activities.
FEE HIKE WORSENS ACCESS TO UNIVERSITY EDUCATION
As More Students Shun LASU
By James Foluso
The
resultant effect of anti-poor policies of fee hike and commercialization of
public education has started telling in Lagos State University. Last year, the
Lagos State Government introduced a 725% hike in the tuition fees of Lagos
State University. With the increase, new students were asked to pay between
N193,750 and N348,750 as against the old fee of N25,000.
The
brutal reality of this fee hike first manifested during the last matriculation
ceremony held on 12th March, 2012 when only 1,951 students (representing 39.8%)
of over 4,903 students offered admission for the 2011/2012 academic session
turned out to take the oath. The reality became much clearer during the
Post-Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (Post-UTME) for the 2012/2013
academic session conducted by the university on Monday, 18th June, 2012.
In
the past, the Post-UTME examination was held as a week-long activity
considering the large turnout of candidates with a resultant heavy human and
vehicular traffic on campus. But the reverse was the case this time around as
it was reported that a meager 3,000 candidates came for the exam as against
past figures which fluctuate between 15,000 and 20,000, and the exam was also
conducted in one day! This was after the University management had placed
expensive adverts in daily national newspapers wooing candidates including
those who never chose LASU to come and participate in the exams.
This
development cannot be disconnected from the fee hike as it has scared away
prospective students who could not afford to pay the huge tuition fees. Faced
with this scary situation, the University management has introduced a
second-round Post-UTME exercise to cover up for the low turn-out. This latest
effort is a clear departure from the past when the management is usually
overburdened with the pressure of sorting and admitting thousands of applicants
considering the low admission space in the university.
The
excuse by government that it cannot fund free and quality tertiary education is
untenable and unacceptable. Just by cutting the outrageous salaries and
allowances of all political office holders in the State and the wasteful
spending going on at the state government and local councils, it is possible to
free huge sums of money that can be used to begin to renovate all the state
public institutions, expand their facilities and pay living wage.
Commercialization
of education is a central policy of the ACN-led government of Babatunde
Fashola. Cuts in social spending are vigorously pursued so as to have more idle
funds to mismanage or channel towards private-interest ventures. So, it is
profitable for those in power to commercialize education and other social
amenities.
LASU
Staff and Students' Unions must as a matter of urgency re-launch a campaign for
the reversal of the fee hike because in actual fact both staff and students
will be affected. As enrolment level drops and drop-out rate rises on account
of unaffordable level of fees, some programmes and courses in the university
may be rationalized due to inadequate number of students. As the crisis
deepens, some programmes and departments could be shutdown. In this case,
academic and non-academic personnel will be sacked.
A
joint struggle against the fee hike should be embarked upon by the Students'
Union, ASUU, SSANU, NASU and NAAT to defeat this anti-students/workers policy.
This should take the form of boycotts, rallies, mass protests and demonstrations
until this anti-poor policy is reversed.
Friday, 20 July 2012
NO TO ORONSAYE'S COMMITTEE PROPOSALS FOR INTRODUCTION OF TUITION FEES IN FEDERAL TERTIARY INSTITUTIONS
We
Can't Pay! We won't pay!!
For
mass action to defeat attacks on public education
The Education Rights Campaign (ERC)
strongly rejects the recommendation of the Committee for the Restructuring and
Rationalization of Federal Government Parastatals, Commissions and Agencies
headed by Mr. Stephen Oronsaye for tuition fees to be introduced in
Federal-owned tertiary institutions in Nigeria.
We call on the government to throw
out this recommendation in the interest of students and poor working class
parents who are already over-burdened by teaching fees, examination charges,
hostel fees and other sundry charges in the nation's tertiary institutions.
This recommendation if accepted by
the Federal government will see fees in federal universities, polytechnics and
colleges of education rise up to between N450, 000 and N525, 000. Together with
the existing fees students pay, this we see a huge drop in enrollment and
significant rise in drop-outs.
A good example of how fee increases
destroy public education is the case of Lagos State University (LASU) where
close to 70% of new entrants failed to take up their admissions after fee was
increased by over 725%. This has also threatened the existence of some
departments in the university because of sharp drop in the number of students
enrolled. There is even thinking in the official quarters of scrapping some of
the departments which will lead to retrenchment of lecturers and non-teaching
staff. The Oronsaye report threatens to achieve more than this. The report if
implemented will signal the death of public education in Nigeria. Already
several students drop out annually as a result of the plethora of outrageous
fees being charged at Federal tertiary institutions.
By the Oronsaye committee report, the
anti-poor government of President Jonathan is serving notice of its
preparedness to again put more burdens on workers and poor people of Nigeria by
introducing tuition fees. This is much like the processes leading to recent
anti-poor attacks on the populace like withdrawal of fuel subsidy and now the
increment of electricity tariff that have kicked off since June 1st.
Therefore, Nigerian students and
education workers unions must not take the matter lightly. Indeed this is the
time to begin to mobilize and build resistance to this new anti-poor attack.
The ERC calls on Students' Unions, National Association of Nigerian Students
(NANS), youth-based groups, staff unions and the trade unions to oppose the
recommendation of the Oronsaye committee and begin to prepare for sustained
mass actions and demonstrations.
According to the Punch newspaper (19
May 2012), the committee identified "the tuition-free policy of government
for undergraduates in federal universities, the over-dependency on government
funding by universities, near absence of good governance structures, dearth of
quality research, decline in ethical and professional practices by
lecturers", as among the factors responsible for the sharp decline in the
quality of standards in tertiary education.
Others, according to the committee,
are the "politicization of hierarchical positions in the universities,
proliferation of part-time programmes, role of staff unions and absence of
strong regulations for ensuring standards."
This is very far from the truth.
Tuition policy and over-dependency on government funding are not among the
factors responsible for the sharp decline in the quality of standards in
tertiary education. Neither is the role of staff unions.
The real cause of the sharp decline
in education quality and standard is the neo-liberal policy of underfunding and
commercialization embraced by succeeding governments (both military and
civilian) in Nigeria. In the 2012 budget, a meager 10% was allocated to the
education sector by President Jonathan government. This miniscule amount is not
even up to the amount set aside for the maintenance of the Presidency and the
National Assembly members. Coupled with underfunding is also the phenomenal
profligacy and corruption of unelected school administrations. In many tertiary
institutions, top-paid officials of the management are more interested in
purchasing Porsche official vehicles, renovating residences of Vice
Chancellors, Provost and Rectors and organizing expensive convocation
ceremonies and banquets instead of spending money to improve teaching and
hostel facilities.
we need to build from below a powerful movement of students and workers to fight education attacks |
The ERC believes that the real
solution to the crisis of public education is for government to increase
funding to the sector as a significant step towards provision of free and
functional education at all levels. We also call for the democratization of the
administration/management boards of universities, polytechnics and colleges of
education through the involvement of elected representatives of staff and
students in decision making organs. This is the best way to ensure that monies
voted for education funding are judiciously used to improve facilities and
standards.
DEMANDS:
(1)
We call on the Federal government and the National Assembly to throw out the
recommendation of the Oronsaye report as it relates to introduction of tuition .
(2)
Scrapping of all fees
(3)
Improvement in education funding up to 26% of annual budget
(4)
Democratization of the management of tertiary institutions through the
involvement of elected representatives of staff and students in all
decision-making organs
(5)
Provision of free and functional education at all levels
(6)
Respect of democratic rights of students and staff to form unions and the
restoration of all banned unions and recall of all victimized students and staff
activists.
Hassan
Taiwo Soweto
National
Coordinator
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