So, school is resuming soon here in the US, and after a much needed summer break, our campus is ready again to burst forth with students. I imagine these students for whom a school strike would be unthinkable. My syllabi are ready, the weekly schedule is done, and my students and I know that we can expect to fairly stick to it. They know when assignments are due, when the final portfolio is due and when the semester will end. Is God not wonderful? And the students take this blessing for granted, this certainty that the academic will start on the day the school calendar says it will, and end on the day it says it will, and they will graduate – as long as they pass- when they expect to. Kai! I feel so bad for Naija.
To go to our public university is to enter one chance. There is no guarantee that if one aces all of their exams, that one will graduate when the programme says they will. You enter (public) university, and you pray that there’d be no ASUU strike. In 2020 there was a 9-month strike (that’s a whole pregnancy; an entire academic year) over non-payment of salaries (related to the new payroll system). This year, it’s going to six months and counting, because of “the alleged failure of the government to keep to an agreement reached with the union on better welfare for its members and more funding for universities.” And while the strike is ongoing, some of our leaders aren’t embarrassed to be posting pictures of themselves in classrooms abroad or of their children graduating from universities abroad. It is a terrible thing to be without a conscience, it is infinitely worse to be without both conscience and shame. Tufia!
Maybe, like a friend suggested, we should write letters of petition to these universities abroad providing uninterrupted education to our leaders’ children to expel them or force them to sit at home for as long as any ASUU strike lasts so that their parents understand what ordinary Nigerian parents are going through. Maybe that will bring about a change in attitude, and incentivize them to work for change and steer our nation away from the path of destruction it’s roller-coasting on at the moment.
After all, a nation cannot tamper with their educational system and expect no consequences. You keep young folks at home for months on end, squashing their dreams, putting their lives on hold and you’re presenting your youth on a platter of gold for the devil to play with. Shebi Enugu State chair of NLC, Virginus Nwobodo, recently noted to Governor Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi, that “Keeping our children out of school is dangerous. Some of these children have turned to kidnappers.” No be me talk am oo.
And if becoming kidnappers seems too far-fetched for you and doesn’t scare you because the kids you know are well-behaved and etc. come to Twitter and see how some of these restless, idle hands are exposing the extent to which our educational system has failed them. Comprehension, zero. Grammar, zero. And on top of that, they are very quick to insult anyone they perceive as disagreeing with them or their preferred political stance. They are in such a hurry to hurl invectives that they don’t pause to wonder if they should have read it more carefully.
Many times, I have to remind myself that these young men and women, Naija’s future leaders, have probably not been taught the difference between arguing/debating and exchanging insults, so rather than take offence, I mute them so that I do not have to be confronted with their bad behaviour. Yet, I wonder, if this is just the frustration of ASUU strike? Or is it compounded by the realities of a hard economy? And of a worsening security crisis?
Whatever the reason, civil discourse appears to be a dying art, and students being out of school for long periods surely can’t be helping. Side note: maybe someone should run a course for our youth on arguing civilly on social media. There’s so much to gain from listening to even those with whom we disagree, we might even learn something. And even if we don’t, by being civil and marshalling our points, we might convince others of the superiority of our thoughts and bring them round to our side.
The diatribes, the resorting to ethnic slurs, the ad hominem attacks are so depressing that one wonders what sort of education, if any these young men and women are getting. Who are their role models? Come to think of it, the older generation isn’t much better either. Hurling of insults, personal attacks and so on are not the sole preserve of the youth. And besides, ‘youth’ in Naija is a generously elastic term, abi?
Anyway, as I go back to school this academic year, my heart will be with the students of Naija’s public universities, stuck at home on an extended, forced vacation, victims of visionless, conscienceless leaders. I hope that ASUU and the government can come to an amicable agreement soon. This protracted suspension of studies isn’t doing our children any good. It is surely not good for their mental health. Or the mental health of their frustrated parents. It’s not doing our nation any good either.
Naija students, aluta continua. But I wish you didn’t have to struggle at all just to have an academic year that runs seamlessly. I wish we could give you a nation where you’d take an uninterrupted school year for granted. Sorry ooo, all the mommies and daddies who can’t afford to send your children abroad or afford private school tuition in Naija. God is your strength.
You are in my thoughts and prayers.
May we get 2023 right.
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