By Press Council.
In a bid to protect the interest of the students, the Students’ Union body, under the leadership of Comrade Okikiola Joshua, has led representatives of student leaders to the Rector of The Polytechnic, Ibadan.
Explaining the cause of visit, Comrade Okikiola, lamented how he was being accused of collecting ‘brown envelope’ from the coordinators of Psychometrics, he however, implored the Rector, to explain the genesis of the course to the students.
While addressing every issue tabled to him by the students’ representatives, the Rector of the institution, Prof Kazeem Adebiyi, acknowledged the presence of the students and appreciated them for making consultation the tool to approach the issue brought to his table.
“The principal cause of crisis is lack of information, where there is no information or half information, there would be problem. You would see that this issue that has brought you here is because you do not have the needed information about it.”
Addressing the need for the enforcement of Psychometrics for the students of the institution, Prof. Kazeem, explained that it was made compulsory to the students by the body regulating the affairs of tertiary institutions in j Nigeria.
“We didn’t want to welcome it before, but it was made compulsory and mandated for tertiary institutions by the NBTE, and we do not have a choice since we’re also looking forward to accreditation from the same NBTE. So, we had to endorse it”
“But when it was being tabled by the Board of Studies, it was noted that the workload on the students is much already, and Psychometrics wouldn’t sound well on them, so we made it 0 unit course, so that it won’t affect them much. The course is beyond our power”.
In his words, Prof. Kazeem, also cleared the issue surrounding ND2 students offering the course, as raised by one of the Students’ Representatives.
“I don’t think we have issue about that, in as much the ND 2 students are not offering the same course with the ND 1 students”
Also, regarding the payment attached to the course, Prof Kazeem, explained how the attached price was arrived at.
“When the price was brought at first, we fought against it, and later on, they gave us a condition that students would pay less amount for the textbook, but they would only have access to the soft copy on their portal, and they would have to print it out themselves. So, when we considered the cost of printing, we felt it would be too high on the student, so that was how we arrived at the price.
Considering the present situation in the country, alongside the students who are yet to be properly orientated about the course, the General Secretary of the Union, Comrade Wasiu Azeez, admonished the Rector, to see to the postponement of the course’s test, which had been scheduled to hold on Thursday, 23rd and Friday, 24th of February, 2023.
While assuring the students of the postponement, Prof Adebiyi, promised to put calls through to the appropriate quarters and told the student leaders to be rest assured of the postponement.
However, the Public Relations Officer of the Union, Comrade Mubarak Bankole, admonished the Rector of the institution, to see to a memorandum from the management to the students about Psychometrics, as the Union has always be saddled with the responsibility of answering any questions regarding to the course, of which they are short of quality information as well.
Prof Kazeem however, promised to reach out to the coordinators and desk officers of the centre to see to that, he also assured them that the management would address the students soon.
While emphasizing on the effectiveness of the desk officers, the student leaders noted that they discovered that there were lots of textbooks awaiting collection at VSCEC, which the students are ignorant of.
Prof Kazeem, appreciated the students for opening his eyes to the need for the institution to have a building dedicated to Psychometrics related activities and issues only, he however, promised to look into it.
Amongst other issues that were raised, was the ND 2 students not having access to the portal with the login details created in ND 1, and the fee they were being charged for the course, despite having paid in ND 1.
Prof Kazeem, noted that the inability of the students not being able to access the portal with their ND 1 login details could be traced to the security initiative utilized by the centre, he also noted that he would try his best to ook into the reduction of the price for the ND 2 students.
While rounding off the meeting which took place in his office, Prof Kazeem Adebiyi, enjoined the students to itemize every challenge that students might be battling regarding the course, he promised to take it up personally.