By Moses Okanya

Students of University of Nigeria, Nsukka (UNN), laments over the effects of the short semester timetable, lecturers absence and tight deadlines on their academics.The semester was scheduled to begin on 6th May, 2024 while exams will start on 29th July 2024 and the semester will end on Saturday, 16th August, 2024.

They shared this insight during exclusive interviews with a UCJ-UNN correspondence.The students complained that despite how short the semester is, some courses are yet to be taught, while some others have not even started their continuous assessment. They also said that this development is having high negative impact on them.

A 300 level student of mass communication UNN, Miss, Praise C Obadike, reveals that the impact is much on students. “Honestly, this whole thing is reducing their incentive and morale towards academic pursuits in the sense that the semester was said to have started on 6th may 2024 and this is mid June and some courses are yet to be introduced.

“Also, the short semester timetable and tight deadlines to submission of assignment make the students by the end of the day not to pass very well and even when they struggle to read in order to pass might not internalize whatsoever that has been read. This is because students have not been able to enjoy full time semester that should be 6 months and not barely 3 months as is the case now,” she complained.

Miss Obadike also said that, “it’s not actually the fault of the lecturers because they were actually given short time due to the short semester timetable of events but even as justice should be done to students as tutorial alone might not be able to help them survive it.”

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Similarly, a final year student of the department of theatre and film Studies, Perpetual C. Ezema complained that, “the short semester timetable event indeed has a huge impact on students as many students would not be able to understand what they are doing in school and before they know, it’s already graduation. This has made students graduate without being able to defend what they are being taught in school, as many students will just cram in order to pass exams.”

She also added that the number of carryovers among students are increasing yearly and painfully enough some lecturers do not care.

Miss. Clare N. Asogwa, a 300 level student of the department of veterinary stated that the students are facing a lot of challenges, especially the fresher who are new to system and are now being presented with the short semester, of which they are expected to scale through. “The effect is great on the students as they don’t have enough time to read as they are supposed to, because of the short semester timetable. Even some lecturers on duty rush everything because of time which is not enough for them to cover the course outlines before the exam” she cried out.

Miss Asogwa also added that “this situation demands that both the lecturers and students have a role to play. Lecturers should always try to come to class as scheduled and not miss classes, which kills the morales of students. The reading materials should be made available on time and they know that students cannot do it alone. Students on the other hand should strive to read their books even as the time is short they should try attend all their classes. They should read ahead of time.”  

to be continued…