After their last papers, graduating students of Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU) in Ile-Ife, Osun State, jumped up for joy. This is a yearly occurrence on campuses. But beyond the revelry, some graduating students will remain in school either for not passing the number of required courses or not completing their projects. GABRIEL OGUNJOBI (graduating Social Studies Education student) writes.
As it was during their matriculation, students’ final moments on campuses are full of excitement. Immediately after their last papers, the campuses would erupt in celebration.
In customised attires, the Final Year Brethren (FYB) – a common name adopted by graduating students-will dance round their schools to announce their eventual departure from the routine, but strenuous academic activities. Some engage in the ritual of ‘baptism’, a euphemism for extreme celebration, where graduating students are sprayed with all kinds of grubby liquids, including sewage water and mud.
This was how the graduating students of the Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU) in Ile-Ife, Osun State, marked their final examination, last month.
However, beneath the veneer of the academic conquest is a tinge of regret and distress for some of them who may not be allowed to graduate because of one reason or the other. Graduating students are usually delayed in school because of factors, such as incomplete project dussertations, supervisors’ harshness, laziness, carryovers and examination misconduct.
Except for unlucky students whose final year project works are being overseen by hard-hearted supervisors, it is generally believed most students have control over any physical factor that can keep them beyond scheduled graduation period. In the final year, only careless students ignore these factors, which are likely to earn them additional years.
David Adelegan, a graduating student of the Department of English Education, did not join his colleagues in the spontaneous celebration after their final examination last month.
He was introspective and sober, describing the jubilation as needless. To him, it was not yet a time to celebrate when the results of the final year examinations have not been released.
David said his graduation was almost threatened by a “silly mistake” he made when he was choosing courses to be offered in his final year, which shot up the required credit load. This, he said, gave him sleepless nights, because he left out the compulsory final year project work.
He said: “When I was choosing the courses, I was very careful not to pick courses taught by callous lecturers in the department. Unknowingly, I submitted my course form, leaving out my final year project unregistered.
“I would not have had the opportunity to write the final year examination with my colleagues if it was not for the intervention of the Head of Department, who took up the task of supervising my project work. It would have been a different story entirely. I will celebrate when the department releases my results, because I need to be sure I will not be delayed by any carryover.”
It was a moment of celebration for an English and Literary Studies student (name withheld), who said she almost got into trouble with a lecturer (name withheld) when she turned down advances from him. She said she prayed throughout her final year to avoid anything that got to do with the lecturer, including project supervision.
She said: “I was threatened by the lecturer after I turned down his sexual advances. I knew I would not offer any of his courses in 400-Level, but I sensed he could be made my project supervisor. I prayed against this. I had every reason to celebrate after I wrote my final examination.”
Agunbiade Samuel, a graduating Family Nutrition and Consumer Science student, said some of his colleagues in the department, who celebrated after their final examination, may be held down in school for plagiarism of project dissertations.
He noted that his department has strict regulations for supervision of students’ final year projects, adding that some of his colleagues were not allowed to graduate last year because they plagiarised their dissertations.
He said: “Department of Family Nutrition and Consumer Science is very strict when it comes to final year project. We have some senior colleagues who are still in school because they copied theses of projects done by those that graduated many years ago. Their supervisors discovered and their graduation was withdrawn. They had extra years in school because they were told to start their projects all over again.”
Lecturers’ mischief could delay students’ graduation, Funmi Olapade, a graduating Education and English Language student, said, while sharing the experience of her friend identified as Tolu.
Tolu, she said, failed a course when she was in 300-Level because she refused to hug the lecturer taking the course at the Department of Special Education and Curriculum in the Faculty of Education.
Funmi said: “That resulted in an automatic extra year, because she did not have extra credit load in 400-Level to accommodate the course. Tolu cried in silence because she could not tell anyone about her problem with the lecturer. So how does this become the student’s fault?”
Dr Oludele Okewole, a lecturer of Social Studies, disagreed with Funmi, saying no “serious student” can be delayed in school after passing all required courses. He listed ill-health, financial problem, failure, incomplete number of required courses, misplacement of priority as reasons why students may earn extra years in school.
Some students combine their studies with business to raise money for their fees and become self-reliant during their period of study. When they become engrossed in trade, these students relegate core purpose in school for their business, resulting in setback in their academic performance.
Oluwaseun Bankole, 400-Level History and International Relations, found nothing wrong in combining business skills with academics, but said tertiary education system is “too rigid” to allow students work while they study.
She adduced academic reasons for students’ inability to graduate in record period, saying some lecturers “intentionally” fail students.
Giving an instance how students’ scripts are intentionally marked down by lecturers, Oluwaseun said: “We have so many students who fail because lecturers don’t want to make their courses so cheap. In OAU, History and International Relations are two different disciplines in the Faculties of Arts and Administration, unlike other institutions where they are placed under one department. History students offer borrowed courses in International Relations courses during the second semester of 300-Level and usually, only a few students pass the courses. Majority of students are marked down by lecturers who don’t want students to see their courses as cheap.
“History courses are easily passed, but this is not so for International Relations subjects. Blaming students for failing the borrowed courses is not a tenable excuse, because mass failure has been a yearly pattern in the Department of International Relations. I believe this is an intentional act against students combining the two disciplines.”
Oluwaseun said those who failed more than one course in 300-Level, were not allowed to take the carryover courses in 400-Level, because of the number of required courses to be taken in their final year. According to her, this automatically means the affected students would have extra year in school.
Head of the Department of Arts and Social Sciences Education, Dr E.F. Bamidele, said it would be unethical for any lecturer to deliberately fail students, blaming the students for not putting up good performance.
He said: “No lecturer derives joy or pride in failing students. Just as it is unethical for any lecturer to award marks for undeserving students, it is also wrong to intentionally fail students, especially in the final year. We do not undermine what students are capable of doing outside the academic environment. But, students need to convince their lecturers that they know the reason why they are in school. Many of them don’t read, yet they want to have good grades.”
Dr Bamidele cited the case of a student who is unable to graduate in the last four years because he has repeatedly failed EGL401. “Why should a serious student fail one course repeatedly? Isn’t that a sign of not being serious?” he queried.
