Following the suspension of the industrial action embarked upon by the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), the University management directed all members of the university community and also the student to commence all academic activities for the second semester of the 2021/2022 academic session on October 17.
Recall that the union went on an 8-month-long strike on February 14, over the government’s alleged failure to meet its demands. With the suspension of the strike and resumption, the students have revealed how they found life back at school after the long holiday.
AAUA Insider gathered that many students were happy to resume but had some financial shortcomings which made it a major setback for them to resume coupled with the fact that the strike had reduced their enthusiasm toward education.
Salami Fatiu, a 100-Level student of Pure and Applied Psychology said the resumption was unexpected as students thought it would elapse till next year.
“I am happy we have resumed back to school, seeing my friends, coursemates, etc, and most especially resuming back to receiving lectures.”
He added that he only copes with life back to school by mapping out a timetable that does not only include academics but entails all his commitments in Akungba so as not to be overwhelmed by the workload.
However, the strike has immensely reduced his academic performance, coupled with the fact that he barely had time for reading during the industrial action.
“I was busy working to survive as I never wanted to be idle especially when we didn’t know how long the strike would last,” Fatiu added.
A 200-Level political science student, Shittu Abass Opeyemi, has also given his instinctive expression after his resumption back to campus “like a bone that is necklaced to a dog and must not be eaten and misplaced” which is said to mean a rigorous task and must be dealt with.
“The strike had so much reduced my level of intelligence and zeal towards my studies as my level of brilliance had dropped drastically.”
“During the strike, l go to my uncle’s block industry to manage the industry and sometimes work together with the workers.”
Another 300-Level student from the department of Industrial Chemistry, Aiyenuwa Promise maintained that his life back to school was rough and splendid as he had been expecting it earlier.
“One of the good reasons I left home was that I feel so happy inside because I am going to relate with my course mates back again.”
Also, he said he came back to school to attend lectures and the strike had increased his academic performance by 30 per cent because he took part in different online learning during the industrial action.
Lecturer reacts
The academic staff also have their fair share of experience adapting to life back at school. A senior lecturer from the Mass Communication department, Mr Ishola Lamidi, said the resumption was a great thing but life back to school has not been easy.
“I am to pick up from where I left lectures and brush up on lecture materials and bring myself back to work.”
Mr Ishola maintains that he is also trying to reacclimatize to the academic environment after spending eight months as he is trying to adjust back since many things have been left unattended to, which need to be brought back to shape.
“Since the strike has been called off, I have gotten to class and started teaching”
He also added that most of the students have forgotten what they have been taught and the lecturer had to start examining their level of previous knowledge to get an insight into where to pick teaching them from.
“It is funny as many students couldn’t remember their lecture codes but we are to bring students back to academics since the strike has made us go from scratch to start all over again and I am glad to be back to work”, he concluded.
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