Tertiary Institution: A Place Of Freedom To Bondage Or Vice Versa -By Mujibat Taiwo Ramon

There is always a freedom that comes with gaining admission into a  tertiary institution. The liberty to decide whether to attend classes or not; the freedom to attend any social event whenever one wills; the freedom to be as nonchalant to academics as can be allowed, and the “supposed”  golden opportunity to satisfy the ever-burning desire to explore certain bounds. Of course, there is a power that comes with the knowledge of the unknown but sadly, many a student fails to realise that the university (or other like institutions) is a budding ground and must be adequately leveraged on before it can have the proper and necessary formative influence required for survival beyond school walls.

By chance, I was in a cyber cafe to pay for my school fees. No sooner had I started my payment than I heard a guy receiving a call: “Abeg, send me the list of the courses wey we they do this semester”. Another instance was the day I came outside the exam hall together with a carryover student, and the first thing he told his friends was, “I swear, na this morning I see say I get exam.” This is to say that, he was not aware of the date of each of his courses.

Before we always affirm that the lecturers in our department are wicked and callous, have we searched our conscience first? Have we played our part of being an undergraduate? I imagine and wonder why students who only come to school when it is time for continuous assessments and examinations still complain they had a 2 in a compulsory course. I feel if we can afford to miss classes then we should be ready to accept the consequences. Instead of tagging our innocent lecturers BAD, why did we not tell people that we are the ones who were carried away by the social activities on campus. These activities may be interesting but we students need to know the number one reason we are in school.

Lecturers are to come to classes, give assignments and conduct tests. Apart from these things, are students also willing to read more to have a better understanding of what they are been taught. As a matter of fact, lecturers can only monitor students in class and ensure they write during lectures; are they also permitted to go to students’ hostel to monitor and ensure they read to pass exams? The two instances I gave from the beginning was to show how some students can be extremely unserious. How can a student forget the date he has an exam? And I am very sure he would not have been in school that day if he had not had a exam earlier in the morning. How can a student afford not knowing the course codes and titles taught for 10 weeks?

Some students will later end up in bondage in the sense that they will not even be able to tell people I went to university for 4 years. It is very important to note that 4 years is just a lot out of our entire life, if it is wasted by our nonchalant attitude, we may have no opportunity to correct the mistakes we have made or relive that experience. Some students will end up in bondage when it is high time they defended what they have in their brain not the 5s they cheated to accumulate. Nowadays, companies and organisations are no longer keen in recruiting first class graduates as they are more interested in what individuals can offer to ensure the growth and sustainability of their businesses.

This article is aimed at revealing the fact that we all should not misuse our freedom in higher institutions, so that we will not later land in bondage. The bondage is not necessarily a prison. But, people who now live in bondage within themselves after their lives in university can relate.