Aliyya Hussain
It came as a soft wonder when the management of the University of Ibadan released her academic calendar for the 2022/2023 session on August 20, 2023, as all eyes trailed down to the eleven weeks set for teaching and revision before examinations were scheduled to take place.
Most students were taken aback when the school’s academic calendar was revealed, as the current calendar mirrored the 11-week calendar connected with the second semester. It goes without saying that the first semester is generally 13 weeks long, but with the school calendar changing, one cannot help but question what effect, toll, and repercussions this new oddity would have on the students; after all, this calendar is here to stay.
THE ONGOING EFFECT OF COVID-19
The year 2020 would forever go down in history as the year when abnormality became the new normal. In reality, the standards patterns that governed most things were disrupted, and the same could be said for the academic calendars of schools in general. While private schools were able to make a quick comeback during the pandemic, thus creating a sense of normalcy for their students, the same can’t be said for federal or state universities.
Along with its other counterparts, the University of Ibadan was able to maneuver the period of the pandemic into the global shutdown. The effect of this thereafter became manifest as the once-functioning academic calendar was no longer effective.
Further still, the university was unable to quickly remedy this problem as, following the heels of the pandemic, there was a strike action by ASUU.
INCESSANT ASUU STRIKES AND PROTRACTED SCHOOL CALENDERS
Over the years, the incessant industrial strike by the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) has brutally affected many of the academic calendars of public universities nationwide.
The union has had no fewer than 16 industrial actions between 1999 and 2022. As the length of each strike extends school calendars into unsalvageable delays, students are compelled to go on indefinite breaks that prolong the session and are subsequently forced to accept the consequences of these strikes in the form of accelerated calendars.
These frequent, interminable actions have had several devastating effects on new students as well as returning students. Although these strikes had an enormously beneficial effect in terms of encouraging students to gain vocational and technical skills, their negative consequences outweighed this critical learning diversion.
According to The Daily Trust in an article dated May 9, 2022, some of these effects include students having more years to graduate, that is, a student studying a four-year course having to finish school after 6 years, a huge toll on mental health, waning interest in the educational system, which has led to several students dropping out, waste of accommodation rent for off-campus students, and finally, a rushed academic calendar.
The accelerated academic calendar at the University of Ibadan kept students awake, but it also had many struggling weeks before exams. In the last session, similar objections resulted in a change in the examination date, which was previously planned to begin on May 22, 2023. The Council of Faculty Presidents and the Students’ Representative Council made a request, appealing to the school management to shift the exams to another week. A statement of notice, signed by the Registrar, Mr. G. O. Saliu, was then released on Tuesday, May 16, 2023, stating examinations would start on May 29, 2023.
AND IT CONTINUES…
With the commencement of the 2022–2023 session, two weeks out of the 11 weeks allocated for lectures have already gone by. Many returning students are still trying to adjust to the shortened school calendar while they make the most of the semester, while new students have little notion of the surprise that comes with the shorter school calendar.
This reporter went out to the streets of the university with the aim of gathering the thoughts of students on the not-so-new eleven-week lecture duration and what it spells out for them in this new session.
Bisola Ogundare, a 400-level student of Geology, described the new duration as advantageous—a speedy method that would enable the school session to advance smoothly. “I think it’s cool because we’ve consumed too much time over the years, so having an 11-week lecture is very okay to make the session go faster and smoother, I guess.”
Along the same line, Pelumi Komolafe, a 300-level student of psychology, equated the new duration to a typical secondary school term duration and encouraged the duration for a quick exit from the university. “In my own perspective, this is what we do in secondary school: our classes are ten weeks, then revision a week before exams. I actually like the method because we tend to cover a lot, but not really a lot because of the limit. I still feel it is good that the school is fast-tracking its calendar because the UI calendar is way backward than any other school. So I feel this is a new method of trying to fast-track, and I want to finish school early. So, I like it.”
Another 200-level student who pleaded anonymity reiterated the importance of having the calendar go faster than it normally would.
While this new duration might prove beneficial for some students, some UItes are still grasping the new norm of the fast-tracked calendar. Antagonistically, Innocent Favour, a 300-level student of Theatre Arts, viewed the whole change as uncalled for, even though she claimed she didn’t notice a major change between the first and second semesters of last session.
“It’s sort of affecting me because we are in the third week of lectures and I think I will have lots of things to read, and again, in my department, we don’t really start lectures early, but now that it has been cut to eleven weeks, we are slowly starting lectures because there’s no time again.”
Ada Okafor, a 400-level Communication and Language Art student, also kicked against the new duration norm the university has embarked on. “I don’t think it’s enough. I don’t think the eleven weeks is enough because this is already the third week and I can’t say I have done anything much within the past weeks, and I have like eight weeks left, and I don’t think whatever I’m going to do within those eight weeks is going to be enough.”
But to Favour Olorunfemi, a 400-level Adult Education, she found the new norm was both advantageous and disadvantageous. “The eleven weeks have their advantages and disadvantages. When we look at the advantage, everything will be faster because the UI is lagging. Everybody believes UI is lagging, so to meet up with other schools and all But a disadvantage is not being able to cover up the syllabus, which might cause the students not to cover up. Students will be rushed, and lecturers may not explain deeply, which is not in favor of the students.”
The accumulated effect of the COVID-19 pandemic, incessant ASUU strikes, and the resultant rushed academic calendar have caused 2023 to be the year where UI students would write three examinations over the span of a year, a situation that hardly ever happened.
While it may be a preferable solution for the school to hasten the school calendar and aid early graduation for students, in reality, it might take a tough toll on students who can’t keep up with the pace the university system has now adopted.
OBAFEMI AWOLOWO HALL PRESS 
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