The growth of any nation no doubt is tied to the quality of its citizenry, many in which case have to be literate so as to be able to position the country in such a way that it can compete favourably in this trendy Boomerang Age of ours, thus the need for a healthy teaching-learning standard. Pai Obanya once said, “Universities worldwide have always striven to belong to a unique ‘universe’, that special space, operational modalities, appropriate facilities, global outreach and collegiate atmosphere that is most conducive for the pursuit of its triple mandate of: Knowledge generation (or research), Knowledge transmission (or teaching) and Knowledge application (or society engagement)” because of their foreseen relevance in nation building.
ABSENCE OF A WORKING LIBRARY
Interestingly, good standards and structures have become a pivotal paradigm in the discourse of university education. The advent of the Knowledge Economy has brought about ‘global competitiveness’ which has in turn impelled universities to desire being the best amongst equals, since there became an external social and competitive push for people to seek education in the most driven institutions, for a chance in this cut-throat world of ours. Now, the University of Calabar built over three decades ago has no doubt contributed in one way or the other towards meeting this cumbersome feat. Sadly though, she hasn’t gotten any favourable national or international rating. This piece is geared towards diagnosing the hiccups and proffering realistic resolutions to the challenges posed by this new generation on our school, the University of Calabar which will be addressed as Unical all through this write-up.
ABSENCE OF A WORKING LIBRARY
‘It is often said that a reading society is a leading society’ and as a result, any society that treats her reading culture with ‘Kid Gloves’ is bound to nose-dive. Sincerely, Unical lacks a working library because, the library was supposed to serve as a platform for both students and lecturers to significantly upgrade themselves so as to be recurrently relevant, but so far, its dimensions has been made diminutive due to its obsolete books which are limited in scope and even few in number thereby exterminating the quest for Knowledge Generation which does not augur well for Unical. Unfortunately, her uncompleted building is marred with different rooms used as either classrooms or campus groups rehearsal ground; what an abuse of purpose. Embarrassingly, various sections of the library ooze urine simply because there are no well-designed lavatories for the library users and as a result, students who can’t afford to pee downstairs at a price then take to any spot of convenience for easing themselves which is nauseating.
SHORTAGE OF MANPOWER
In Talent Management, it is taught that a shortage in leadership opportunities often creates an adverse effect on quality of delivery. Same is applicable here. Unical lacks enough manpower and this is evident in the way lectures are carried out and results are compiled. Believe me, GSS has ‘never’ compiled any semester results for the school without either hundreds of missing exams result or continuous assessment score. On the other hand, in most departments we find cases of a lecturer teaching a particular class over four core courses in a semester not to mention other classes he still has to tutor in and outside his department. Now tell me, what will the output of such a stressed lecturer be? Sure it will be nothing short of poor services, and this goes a long way to account for why we have so many lecturers pose as sadist and always wanting their courses to become curses simply because they are perturbed.
EXCESS WORKLOAD
The quality of a university is mostly gauged by the quality of its students. However, for Unical to produce world-class students doesn’t necessarily mean more competitive and selective examinations because, Unical students are already over-examined. Or what would you say about a department like Physics that offers eleven courses in one semester excluding ‘mandatory’ carry-overs? That implies over eleven exams, which are written most times in less than ten days. Now tell me, is that the best way to get the best out of the students? Certainly not! Often times, most of these courses are irrelevant. Checkout a department like Computer Science taking a course in Biology or, Electronics/Computer Technology and Computer Science mandated to take UMITT which deals with ICT basics that is a minor when compared to other advanced ICT courses being offered by these departments.
ILL-EQUIPPED LECTURE HALLS
What else could be more tiring than being taught in a place that is not conducive? By that I mean a place where air is in high demand and the lecturers’ voice is an essential commodity and can only be received using a satellite of infinity bandwidth. All the NSLT’s, PAV’s and individual departments all have a problem here. Faculty of science year one are always sick when it’s time for Chemistry classes simply because, the whole faculty is often compressed into NSLT1 & 2 thereby making over two-third of the class to ask, What is he saying? Similarly in the Medical College, courses like Histology, Embryology, and Haematology that attracts all the departments in the College to converge is not spared of the “What is he saying?” question.
For how long will we continue like this? I believe that Unical will be better if her library is equipped with recent books in all disciplines so that even lecturers can learn from there. Also, only competent lecturers should be hired who have empathy and are passionate about their job. Then addressing the challenge of workload would involve infusing quality into education with a holistic view in quality of its curriculum and attraction of the best talents. Finally, public address systems should be placed in major lecture halls and large classes should be split for effectiveness. With all said and done, Unical will continue to degenerate if we fail to come together as leaders to effect the much needed change.
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