Students of the Federal Polytechnic, Offa (OFFA POLY) are not happy with the management over the delay in releasing their results. AFEEZ ADEYEMO (Mass Communication) spoke to some of them.
There is growing discontent among students of the Federal Polytechnic, Offa (OFFA POLY) in Kwara State over the management’s poor handling of their results. The school resumed for another session two months ago, but at the time of this report, the results of the last one were yet to be released for students to know their standing.
Except the graduating HND II students, who, CAMPUSLIFE gathered, were told of their results verbally, none of the returning students has seen last session’s results. This development is causing disaffection on the campus as some students have vowed not to pay their school fees until they see their results. They described their lecturers’ action as unjust.
Some students, who spoke to CAMPUSLIFE, lamented the development, saying it was becoming a tradition in the institution. Students expressed sadness, saying the non-release of their academic assessment was putting in tight corners because many did not know if they had carryover courses.
CAMPUSLIFE learnt that the development is not new. Students said several complaints were sent to the management through the Students’ Union Government (SUG), but all to no avail.
A student said: “We are crying out to let the management understand what we are going through, so that they can consider our plights by all means and release our result. We are not happy with this situation and we do not hope to complete our programmes beyond the fixed time. But, could we achieve this without releasing our results?”
A student, who simply gave his name as Adeola, said: “Depression is gradually setting in. The hope of some of our colleagues who wish to continue their academic career in the institution has been dashed because they did not know whether to apply for HND programme or not. Lecturers and Students’ Union leaders are not showing concern.”
For Afeez Temitope, a ND II Building Technology student, people suffer not because of the tyranny of the wicked, but because of the silence of the good people. Afeez faulted the SUG for its silence, wondering if the union leaders were elected by students.
Rukayat Olasinde, a ND II Computer Engineering student, said management should have no problem uploading the results on the school website to allay the fear of students.
Joseph Adeyemi, a graduating student of Marketing, wondered when things would get better in the school. “Delaying students’ results for long is abnormal and it is a threat to students’ academic pursuit. Students’ Union should be alive with its task and intervene on behalf of students,” he said.
Another graduating Mass Communication student, Solomon Ayorinde, said: “I was admitted under poor academic condition, which the management said would be corrected. This issue of delay of result has been the main challenge contributing setback to students. It is high time management considered students’ plight. There must be improvement.”
Reacting, the SUG Vice President (Academics), Obafemi Oyeniyi, said the union was engaging the management on the matter, adding that the students’ leaders had met with the management on number of period to bring the situation back to normal.
Obafemi, who was quoting members of the academic affairs in the school, said the problem may have been caused by disagreement between the management and the local chapter of the Academic Staff Union of Polytechnics (ASUP).
He said: “After the polytechnic backed out of ASUP strike, it was discovered that some students’ examination materials were not submitted to the appropriate quarters, especially those returning from the industrial training. Some of them did not have any remark on their log books; some has misplaced theirs while some submitted to the wrong offices for approval. The office that is in charge of judging results is still rejecting results from some departments because of wrong approval. Therefore, these offices are still giving all the affected department chances to cross check their students’ materials properly before forwarding it for judgment.”
Obafemi assured students that their results would be released soon, while cautioning them against using violence to make their opinion known. This, he said, would make the bad situation to be worst.
