Education is something that many may take for granted, at
early ages, education is compulsory for most. However it is well known that as
you reach the stages for higher and further education, access to it becomes
harder or difficult for most.
Recently in Nigeria, University students have suffered an
education loss as they had to put their learning on hold due to lecturer
strikes by the ASUU (Academic
Staff Union of Universities) where all public Universities (over sixty) were
closed. The strike lasted nearly Six months.
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| Comic illustrating the ASUU struggle with the President. The caption reads "The child that doesn't allow his mother to sleep, also won't sleep." |
In this society, we are constantly being told by the media
that we have access to particular jobs of our choice; meanwhile you have others
stating university isn’t everything, and that one does not necessarily need a
degree to get far in life etc. However around the world, this is not the same
for everyone.
For example in countries like the UK, we’re lucky enough to
have student finance and many other helpful boards. Basically there is always
help available and even with the strikes that have occurred, teaching still
goes on. Six months of absent teachers is something that is very unlikely to
happen here.
The ASUU claim their reasons are justified and believed it
was the only way to force the government to take action. The fact that the
universities need better teaching conditions amongst other requests are said to
be responsible for the teachers feeling the need to take this action. Yes,
academic standards are important, however some feel refusing to teach at all,
especially for six months could do more harm considering improvement in
infrastructure is a national problem in Nigeria.
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| An illustration of the status of education in Nigeria |
This has had a detrimental effect on students all over
Nigeria because education is probably more valued there due to that fact it isn’t
easily acquired. With the increasing demand for university opportunities, it is
understandable that many people do not think all terms the government have
adhered to are even possible and there has to be an alternative approach to
address the future issues instead of allowing such a thing to happen again.
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| Students protesting against suspension of their education. |
The strike was suspended in December 2013 after some funds
were given to the universities. The government agreed to invest ‘billions’ into
the system over the next couple of years to help resolve the issues plus tend
to the lecturers as well as the students. Currently the most important thing is
that now order has been resumed amongst the Universities, action and methods
need to be put into place so a strike of such duration won’t happen again. Lecturers
agreed to go back to teaching providing the government stick to their promises.
Final Thoughts
Yes, classes have resumed and there is relief but now there
is extra pressure for students to catch up. It is a waiting game to see how
severe the strike’s impact were on the student’s education.
Written by Jay
