* Students Groan under Inadequate Facilities and
Outrageous Fees
* Graduates of Degree Program Lament Non-Release of
Result/Certificate Four Years after
By ERC Reporters
Michael Otedola College of Primary Education (MOCPED)
formerly known as Lagos State College of Primary Education (LACOPED) located in
Epe is a teacher training college established in 1994.
Today the College is an eyesore. In the first place, the
College resembles nothing close to a tertiary institution. Actually there are
some public secondary schools that can boast of better facilities and buildings
than MOCPED. You only have to visit MOCPED to fully understand why there is low
quality of teaching and mass failure of pupils.
The students, majority of who may have chosen the
institution due to difficulty in gaining admission to better schools, are
treated like cash cows to be milked dry. National Certificate of Education (NCE)
students pay between N24, 600 and over N50, 000 yet they have no facilities for
quality education.
In 2006/2007 academic session, the College decided to
float a degree programme affiliated with the Ekiti State University (EKSU).
Students under this program are divided into fulltime and sandwich categories,
and they pay between N82,000 and N106,000 as fees. According to reports,
current full-time students under the degree program are paying fees without being
issued receipts. But that is not the whole story. Actually about eight years
since the degree program began, the students that graduated (and there have
been four graduating sets) have not received their results neither have they
been issued certificates. It is four years now since the first set have graduated
and yet no results. Unfortunately, no-one, except the management, knows what
the problem is. The provost Prof. Olu Akeusola is not providing any answer to the enquries
by students while EKSU too is keeping mum. However there is a prevalent belief
that the reason for this state of affairs was the inability of MOCPED to keep
up with payment to EKSU which is part of the agreement for the affiliated
degree program.
On Friday 29, August 2014, a two-man delegation of the
Education Rights Campaign (ERC) visited the institution on the invitation of
graduates of the degree program of the College who are getting prepared to
begin a campaign for the release of their results and certificates. The two
comrades are H.T Soweto the National Coordinator and Dimeji Macaulay, member of
ERC.
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| ERC members and MOCPED Students' Union Leaders |
We arrived the school tired and hungry, and went in
search of a canteen to eat. Three female students walked in to eat also and
from there a conversation started which soon revealed to us the deep-seated
anger among a majority of the students as well as the vendors. As the female
students lamented the outrageous fees they are made to pay as tuition fees, the
food vendor lamented the decline in patronage as many students cannot afford to
eat out after paying such outrageous fees. This was well reflected in the
quality of her food. Her meats are cut so small that they are no much bigger
than a dose of panadol. But according to her "the students cannot afford
to pay more than 20 Naira for meat and even at that several students buy food
without meat". Another female student lamented how she often has to walk
long distances because some weeks she cannot afford bus fares.
We first held a meeting with the newly-reinstated
Students Union leadership which included key members of the union like the
speaker of the union, PRO, Financial Secretary and General Secretary. It was an
eye-opener. The Students Union speaker gave the situation report of the campus
and the problems confronting the union and the students as a whole. She
explained that the students union was just reinstated and they have been trying
to put things together but the management is not helping matters. According to
her, it seems that though the Management reinstated the union, it is making
every effort to ensure it is ineffective. For instance the new leadership met
no money in the union account and the management has refused to provide them
with a take-off grant. The bus of the old Union has been converted by the
Management to its use.
She mentioned other challenges confronting them ranging
from underfunding to total neglect by the state government, E- portal payment,
lack of internet service and so on. Recently the union took a step to call a
meeting among students to make contribution on what they need and a communiqué
was submitted to the management. Thereafter, the management called them for a
meeting and promised to address some of the issues but there is the
apprehension that nothing positive may come out of it.
A major weakness of the union is that its membership only
extends to NCE students alone. The degree students are kept out even though
their population is more than that of NCE students and it’s still increasing.
Only the management will benefit from this kind of divisive arrangement as it
will be able to play one section of students against another. Meanwhile all the
students regardless of their program suffer from the same poor conditions of
facilities on the campus and high fees. As the ERC delegation advised, the best
way to begin to strengthen the union for the inevitable struggles ahead is to
unite all NCE and Degree students under its umbrella. The first step in this
direction should be a public statement by the union advocating issues affecting
the degree students most especially fees and non-release of results. Others are
public programs and activities on campus to build the consciousness of students.
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| ERC members and some of affected MOCPED degree program graduates |
The second meeting started around 12 noon with the
graduates of MOCPED/EKSU Degree program that have not been issued results for
the past four years now. For some time now, the concerned individuals have been
trying to organise themselves by holding regular meetings. According to them,
those affected by the non-release of results are in thousands. However, only a
few of them are actually taking active part at this stage. Also the current
degree students are not playing any role in the movement. One of the key
agreements at the meeting was the need to reach out to all those concerned
including the present degree students. Also there is an urgent need for a
campaign that can compel the authorities of EKSU, MOCPED and the Lagos State
government to find ways to release their results.
The mood at the meeting indicated a determination to
fight till victory. Many lamented what they have suffered over the years
including lack of jobs due to the certificate. However, there is the need to
get more people involved and build the movement further. At the end of the day,
we agreed to launch a campaign to be called #ReleaseOurResults on Social Media,
press campaign and letters to EKSU and MOCPED demanding the release of results
and issuance of certificates to all those affected. Another meeting is to take
place on Saturday 13 September 2014 to assess the struggle and other steps to
be taken. A five-man committee was formed to handle the Social Media campaign.
Twenty two (22) affected graduates attended the meeting. Five copies of
Socialist Democracy (SD) - the paper of the Democratic Socialist Movement (DSM)
were sold. One thousand, two hundred and seventy naira was raised as fighting
fund to build and sustain the struggle.
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