They’re part-time students – Management
We attend lectures from 8am to 4pm daily, yet they say we are Part Time, Day! What does that mean?
Adesina Wahab and Ebele OrakpoSome students of the Lagos State Polytechnic, LASPOTECH, now Lagos State University of Science and Technology, LASUSTECH, are made to spend four years for National Diploma, ND courses that should normally not exceed three years at most
Some students of the Lagos State Polytechnic, LASPOTECH, now Lagos State University of Science and Technology, LASUSTECH, are made to spend four years for National Diploma, ND courses that should normally not exceed three years at most.
The students are now appealing to the state government, owners of the institution, to intervene.
Checks by Saturday Vanguard showed that out of frustration, some of the students have abandoned their courses.
Mostly affected are students in the Isolo Campus of the institution who are studying courses like Accountancy, Mass Communication, Banking and Finance, among others.
Even though they study as part-time students, they go to school daily to attend lectures and are made to pay fees that keep increasing every session.
Relating her experience, one of the students in the Mass Communication Department (name withheld), said she has spent over three years for her ND program.
“I bought the applicationform in 2019 for N10,000 and was offered admission in the Department of Mass Communication that year. They categorised us as Daily Part-time students and we attend lectures every day.
“Every year, the school fees keep increasing. We started with N68,000 fee in 2019, now we pay over N80,000. That is aside other sundry fees. We buy N500 test cards to write tests and the classes are just too huge in number. We are heading towards the fourth year on campus, when are we going to conclude everything? Many have left since it is like the program is unending,” she said
Also sharing her experience with Saturday Vanguard, another student of the school who pleaded anonymity said: “Initially, the program was supposed to be a three-year program as it was stated in the first admission letter we printed out, but it was later reduced to two years so we had to reprint the admission letter
I would say the COVID-19 pandemic is part of the reason for the delay, and also the school authorities don’t take our program seriously because they feel they’re doing us a favour by admitting us to the school
“We were supposed to resume lectures last semester around December/January, would you believe that no lecturer was assigned to us till March
On her part, one of the affected students said: “They call our program School of Part-time Studies,
We go to school from Monday to Friday, our time table sometimes runs from 8:00am to 4:00pm so I don’t know why it’s called part-time. I have been running the OND program since 201
I thought ND is just two years but when I asked why we’ve spent so much time running just OND, I was told it’s because I am doing part-time studies and it runs from ND 1-
Official complaint
Asked if they have tried to find out from the authorities why the OND program was taking too long, one of the students said they did not have the courage to ask the authorities questions as that may affect their results. It’s called a part-time program but we attend classes from Monday to Sunday, just like full-time student
Another said: “I personally haven’t gone to the authorities to complain so I don’t know what they’re saying about it, students just complain among themselves and some s.nt3.9.y.?”l.r.d.