Federal varsities have lost one academic session because of ASUU strike, says ministry

Mallam Adamu Adamu

• Some Graduates Won't Be Eligible For NYSC

• JAMB To Go Ahead With Sale Of 2021/2022 UTME Forms

The Federal Ministry of Education, yesterday, affirmed that all government colleges the nation over have lost one full scholarly meeting because of the mechanical strike activity by the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU).

Specialists of generally government and even some state colleges have been at a junction over how to deal with the scholarly schedule to abstain from congestion.

Scholarly exercises in Nigerian colleges were suspended among March and December a year ago because of the mechanical activity set out upon by the school personnel, just as the flare-up of the COVID-19 pandemic at a time most universities were at different phases of learning.

The strike, what began after government's order to closure all learning organizations in the nation, following the episode of the pandemic, hampered finish of the 2018-2019 scholarly meetings in numerous colleges, with recently conceded understudies in the pipeline.

Albeit the public authority lifted the public lockdown last August, state funded colleges stayed shut until late December when the ASUU suspended its mechanical activity. By at that point, the establishments had lost 10 months.

Numerous higher organizations were in their first semester before the lockdown; subsequently the conclusion intruded on instructing and learning, yet in addition harmonized with a key appraisal period, as tests and assessments in a portion of the foundations were deferred.

Talking in a meeting yesterday in Abuja, Director of Press and Public Relations, Federal Ministry of Education, Ben Bem Gong, said there is no hope to recuperate the full scholarly meeting lost because of the mechanical activity.

He expressed: "It isn't only a few schools; all state funded colleges have lost one full scholarly meeting and it is extremely unlikely you can recuperate that. In all actuality you can never recuperate the one entire year that has been lost; that is the degree ASUU can go.

"At the essential and auxiliary training area, we likewise had difficulties there, yet the priest has established a panel that is attempting to fit the scholastic schedule. Yet, for the college, it is as of now allowed that one year has been lost."

Gong communicated worries over the effect on the understudies and scholarly exercises taking all things together the national government-claimed colleges, adding: "The ramifications is that there are kids who might have graduated at 29 and who might have been qualified to do their NYSC, having lost an entire year, will currently graduate at 30 or more and will presently don't be qualified to serve.

"The second class on the effect on age is that on the off chance that you need to go into the Nigerian Police, Army, Navy and Air Force, you should not be more than 27 years. In the event that the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and most parastatals are to give you a task, you should not be more than 27 years. Presently, youngsters who might have graduated a year sooner and potentially proceeded to serve would in any case be 27 can't do that.

"A decent number of them would not be qualified for arrangement upon graduation, since they would have been over 27. These are the enormous security sway that ASUU is causing them."

He added that the Minister of Education, Prof. Adamu, would before long buoy instruction cloud to address the issue of perpetual interruption in scholarly exercises in the nation, saying: "The service isn't resting, ASUU has pushed government to think outside the corner.

"In the following a half year, the Federal Ministry of Education will glide training cloud that would contain the learning materials of all degrees of out instructive framework."

This means whether it is ASUU strike or Covid, reality would presently don't be an obstacle to learning. On the off chance that ASUU says they are protesting, we can employ speakers to instruct the understudies and internet learning will replace ASUU.

"At this very moment, Nigerians are doing on the web degrees and nothing makes those online degrees substandard compared to the one you proceed to sit in the homeroom to get.

"We are chipping away at that and in a half year, we would commission the training cloud. It is said that 'when beaten, twice timid,' and government has been beaten too often by ASUU."

The service representative said ASUU is continuously turning out to be disliked due to its steady modern activities, taking note of: "ASUU is progressively working itself out of significance and they don't understand that 70% of them can be tossed out of occupations with the presentation of online offices.

"They don't appear to realize that in the event that they push the public authority excessively hard, they will be will out of occupation with web based learning."

Then, the Joint Admission and Matriculation Board (JAMB), said it would proceed with the offer of 2021/2022 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) structure, regardless of the apparently logjam in scholarly schedule of most government colleges.

Support Public Relations Officer, Dr. Fabian Benjamin, revealed to The Guardian, yesterday in Abuja, that UTME is a yearly exercise, noticing that colleges have closed around 60% of the affirmations.