Education
COVID-19: UNILORIN may adopt virtual convocation, teaching – Management
The University of Ilorin, on Monday said it might adopt virtual convocation for the graduates as a safety protocol against the spread of the Coronavirus COVID-19 pandemic.
The Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Academic) of the university, Prof. Sylvia Malomo, told journalists in Ilorin that as long as the pandemic persisted, the university had no choice but to adopt that form of convocation.
“The university may adopt the virtual method since government prohibits large concentration of people on a particular location, in keeping with the safety protocols of COVID-19,” she said.
Malomo said that institution would also adopt virtual teachi g and learning method to complete the 2019/2020 academic session.
“The university management has committed enormous resources to the development of infrastructure to enhance the effective delivery of the envisaged virtual teaching and learning.
“Students will be taught virtually and will also be intermittently evaluated online to determine the level and quality of knowledge they are receiving.
“This will also determine the desirability or otherwise of further usage of the virtual method of teaching and learning,” she said.
According to her, the university is striving to ensure that it covers lost grounds due to the rampaging coronavirus pandemic and the strike by the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU).
She explained that all the academic staff of the university had been trained on the effective use of online teaching method.
She added that the training had been replicated at faculty and departmental levels to ensure that everyone involved was properly empowered for efficient service delivery.
The deputy vice-chancellor said she was optimistic that students of the institution would adapt to the new method.
Malomo noted that secondary school students across the country, successfully used the method at the peak of the pandemic.
She expressed satisfaction with the level of students’ cooperation with the university management on the plan for virtual teaching and learning.
She said the leadership of the university’s Students Union Government had shown sufficient cooperation on the efforts of the university management to ensure hitch-free resumption of academic activities.
Malomo also disclosed that the concerned authorities had opened discussion with telecommunication service providers on the plan.
She said the discussion was on how to give the students some discounts on the cost of data which they were likely to buy in greater quantities.
The deputy vice-chancellor also assured all the students with “special needs” that they would be taken care of, to ensure that they benefited maximally.
She urged parents/guardians to provide their children/wards with the gadgets, and appealed to corporate organisations and wealthy individuals to assist the less privileged by providing them with such materials.
By Saka Laaro, Ilorin
Kwara State University (KWASU), Malete, has been chosen as one of the six pilot universities for the Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund) and the Office of the First Lady’s initiative to establish ICT Experience Centres in public tertiary institutions across Nigeria.
According to a letter addressed to the Vice-Chancellor, Professor Shaykh-Luqman Jimoh, and signed by the Executive Secretary of TETFund, Architect Sonny S.T. Echono, KWASU was selected as a pilot institution for the project.
The letter stated that the Tertiary Education Trust Fund, in collaboration with the Office of the First Lady, is championing the establishment of ICT Experience Centres in furtherance of the joint initiative of the Federal Ministry of Education and Federal Ministry of Communication, Technology, and Digital Economy Learn to Earn Programme.
It added that the project, which is part of the Renewed Hope Agenda of the Federal Government, aims to provide undergraduates with tailored technological education and opportunities to thrive in the digital era.
“The primary objective of the ICT Experience Centres is to empower undergraduates and institutions of learning with skills, infrastructure, and mindset necessary to excel in a digitally driven world.
“Your Institution has been chosen for the first phase/pilot programme of this initiative,” it added.
Six pilot ICT Experience Centres, one in each geopolitical zone of the country, constitute the pilot stage.
Reacting to the development, the Vice-Chancellor of Kwara State University, Professor Shaykh-Luqman Jimoh, described the selection of KWASU as elating and indicative of the strategic positioning of the institution as a hub for the training of 21st century individuals who contribute significantly to national development.
The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) has urged the Federal Government to prioritise university education to boost research and academic excellence in the nation’s ivory towers.
The Alex Ekwueme Federal University, Ndufu-Alike, Ikwo (AEFUNAI), branch of ASUU made the appeal in an address delivered during a press conference on the campus on Wednesday at Ikwo local government area in Ebonyi.
The union had earlier embarked on a peaceful march that commenced on the university campus and terminated at the entrance gate of the institution to draw awareness of its demand for a better welfare and funding of university education in Nigeria.
The address signed by Dr Louis Omenyi and Dr Joseph Chukwu, the branch chairman and secretary respectively, lamented the poor state of infrastructure, welfare of lecturers and other anomalies in the system.
According to the unionists, the perceived rot in the public owned universities need urgent action so as to stem brain drain and incessant strike actions that had bedevilled the university education.
The union rejected what it termed, illegalities, underfunding, disrespect and flagrant violation of university autonomy and academic freedom by governments at all levels.
It also decried the federal government’s failure to honour the agreement it reached with the national body.
“All these anomalies have occasioned the massive exodus of some of our best brains through the phenomenon that has become popularly known as ‘Japa’ syndrome.
“The few of us left behind will not let our generation down because the struggles of our irrepressible union are our historic responsibility to secure the heart and soul of the university system where intellectualism, research, innovation and development are nurtured and delivered.
“The baton is in our hands today and we cannot let down our heroes past by allowing people who benefited from free and subsidised education to destroy our national heritage and educational system,” ASUU said.
ASUU which reaffirmed its commitment to industrial peace and harmony noted that it remained and committed to placing quality education of all Nigerians in its rightful place.
“We are here to reaffirm that we are committed to ensuring qualitative and affordable higher education for all Nigerians and nothing will make us renege from this sacred responsibility,” it added.
The union frowned at the government’s insensitivity to the plight of the university lecturers and lack of commitment to implementing agreements entered with the union and the infrastructural decays.
It therefore called on relevant authorities to do the needful to avert another looming crisis that could lead to further devaluation of standards in the university education.
“We are also making a clarion call to all Nigerians to join hands with ASUU to salvage the Nigerian university system from total collapse.
“We are also using this medium to warn that the ritual of ASUU’s preparation for another round of strike has just begun.
“Arising from the texts of press conferences after the National Executive Council (NEC) meeting of the union held recently at Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU), the cloud is gathering for a show down if the needful is not done very quickly.
“You will recall that ASUU has reached an agreement with the government in 2009, which is supposed to be reviewed three years later; for 15 years now, that agreement has not been wholly implemented, let alone reviewed.
“As a consequence, lecturers in public universities have remained stuck with the same poor condition of service,” the union said.
ASUU called on the government to urgently set up a committee to review the agreement reached by its leadership and Prof. Nimi Brigs-led Government committee to further look at the document, adjust it according to the current economic realities.
The union condemned the government’s sustained use of the Integrated Personnel Payroll Information System (IPPIS) payment platform saying that the system usurped the powers of the university councils.
The group rejected continued withholding of three and half months salaries of members, non-payment of Earned Academic Allowance (EAA) and promotion arrears among other alleged injustices.
Education
Poor infrastructure, funding for public varsities responsible for incessant strikes — ASUU UNIJOS
The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), says poor infrastructure and inadequate funding of public universities by the Federal Government were responsible for the incessant strikes by lecturers.
Chairperson of the University of Jos chapter of the union, Dr. Jurbe Molwus, said this during a town hall it organised on Thursday in Jos.
He added that the failure of the federal government to honour agreements it reached with the union over the years had contributed to the industrial disharmony between the lecturers and government.
“As a union, we are very reluctant about going on strike; we find it very painful anytime our members resolve to embark on industrial action.
“But the failure of the government to honour agreements it reached with the union is largely behind recurrent strikes.
“ASUU has entered a series of agreements with the government but all of them ended as promissory notes.
“Most of our public universities are now an eyesore; no basic infrastructure like lecture halls, equipped laboratories, among others, and this because successive governments refused to properly fund education,” he lamented.
On the rationale for the town hall, Molwus said that it would provide an opportunity for the union and members of the public to interact on the challenges currently facing public universities in Nigeria.
“This meeting will give us the opportunity to discuss with Nigerians from all walks of life and fashion best ways of tackling the current challenges confronting university education in Nigeria.
“We have called you here to tell you our side of the story as a union and to hear from you how best we can collectively move our education system out of its current quagmire,” he said.
Speaking at the event, retired Prof. Sylvester Alubo, called on the federal government to grant full autonomy to public universities, insisting that such a move would enable optimal productivity in the institutions.
“Granting full autonomy to the universities will solve a lot of challenges confronting our educational system.
“This is the practice in other climes; the government doesn’t interfere in the running of universities,” he said.
Alubo, who decried the proliferation of universities in the country, also called on the federal government to urgently address the situation.
The retired professor added that poor remuneration of university lecturers was responsible for the increasing ‘Japa’ syndrome among lecturers.
He called on the government to review the salary structure of the lecturers to reflect global standards and current economic realities in the country.
The Vice Chancellor of the University of Jos, Prof. Tanko Ishaya, commended the union for organising the town hall.
The Vice Chancellor also called on the federal government to address all demands of ASUU, insisting that the demands were critical toward having functional and productive universities in the country.
The town hall had parents, students, market and transport unions, security agencies, government officials, among other critical stakeholders in attendance.
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