Monday, May 16, 2011

The Dilemma Of 91,000 LASU Students

The Dilemma Of 91,000 LASU Students

Posted By pmnews On May 16, 2011 @ 11:53 am In Editorial | No Comments

The revelation that only two campuses of the Lagos State University, LASU, have passed the litmus test of providing qualitative education to students, out of the nine existing campuses in the state, is very disturbing. The Executive Secretary of the National Universities Commission, NUC, Professor Julius Okojie dropped this bombshell at the weekend in Lagos. With this disclosure, the fate of at least 91,000 students in the affected campuses now hangs in the balance unless authorities of the state owned university move fast by providing the necessary facilities and qualified teaching staff in those seven satellite campuses to meet the standard recommended by NUC.

While the tertiary institution is still grappling with the non accreditation of some of its courses by NUC, the issue of lack of qualitative teaching staff and appalling learning environment is an albatross LASU authorities and the state government have to deal with to avoid the wrath of NUC. While the main campus in Ojo boasts of some of the best academics, the reverse is the case at the Satellite campuses.

The standard of education has fallen so abysmally that most tertiary institutions further shortchange their students by providing substandard facilities and ill trained teaching personnel.

It is even more appalling that despite the nationwide ban on university satellite campuses by NUC, LASU flouted the ban and allowed 9 of such mushroom campuses to flourish across the state. The result is the failure of the authorities of LASU to effectively monitor the satellite campuses and ensure that high academic standard is maintained on such campuses which are not legally recognised by NUC.

How the authorities of the school resolve the problem is left to be seen, but another cankerworm that has eaten deep into the fabric of the institution is the inability of students who graduate from the school to receive their degree certificates many years after leaving the school. Students of satellite campuses are worse off.

Because of the large student population and presumably incompetent and careless staff in the satellite campuses, there have been complaints that students examination results are misplaced and by the time they graduate, everything is so muddled up that it is difficult to compile the overall results of students from 100 level to the final year.

It’s so disheartening that thousands of students who have graduated from the school are affected and they have been left in the lurch all these years. Why should keeping examination records be so difficult in an institution that was once highly respected because it towered above its peers?

Where did it all go wrong? This is one of the greatest challenges the school authorities are facing and how they would be surmounted remains to be seen. The students don’t deserve these avoidable problems created by the institution.

This situation has turned LASU, which was once the pride of Lagos state, especially the sterling performance of its law graduates at the Law School, the laughing stock of tertiary institutions in the country. Stakeholders and citizens of Lagos State are looking forward to the restoration of the institution’s lost glory.