By Jimoh Abdullahi
In the tertiary institution of learning parlance, Grade Point showcases the level of performance of a student after being given a short appraisal at end of each semester in a session.
The result of such assessment will reveal whether the effort made to expunge ignorance from students by the lecturer, has not proved abortive or yielded desired outcome. On their part, students who are fully conscious of their mission in school, thus, shun hedonism and grapple with the stress and pain of reading all the available materials within their reach, do series of assignments, practicals and always regular and punctual in class, while being mindful of the popular proverb “No Pain, No Gain”.
That seems to be in order, as there is the general belief that Grade Point speaks volume of one’s Intelligent Quotient (IQ). Reflectively, tertiary institutions of learning are established to consolidate on foundation laid at the Primary and Secondary levels of education, which implies that, students have leeway to rebrand themselves as nobody would spoon feed them anymore, and that is the convention world over though, the outcome is subject to
the situation and environment in which the students find themselves.
However, there are myriad of questions that hold gravitas which nobody has been able to answer. Has the orthodoxy of getting a Grade Point not been violated and dumped like garbage and disposed in the waste bin by some lecturers ? Has the students not jettisoned their mission of being in school? Moreover, for time and space management the discourse here will be restricted to West Africa of which Nigeria is part of it .The subject matter in question is a global phenomenon but prevarication is not necessary at the moment.
This ‘evil’ has taken a grave dimension in Nigeria hence, it’s the focal point here.
The misplaced importance that parents, society and labour market place on certificate/ Grade has dire consequence. This has led to the growing spate of malpractices by students and even lecturers in tertiary institution, and even in recent time at the Secondary school level, all in an effort to satisfy the society’s expectation on certification and good Grade Point. Students deploy various unwholesome means to get good Grade Points. In fact, this has resultantly made students to jettison genuine pursuit of KNOWLEDGE.
Students turn themselves into BEGGARS and casualties of the slingshot of sadists and indisciplined lecturers. Some male lecturers hibernate in the paradise of bevy of pretty but lazy female students like a reptile with the intention to barter good grade for their voluptuous bodies. Female lecturers turn themselves to demigods whom students need to deify in order to excel. Oppression , extortion and malevolence are part of the burden students bear in the name of Grade Point.
Benjamin Franklin once said, ” investment in knowledge pays the best ” this is of no concern to some Nigerian students; what matters most to them is their Grade Point and certificate not giving regard to self development.
Some students only read to pass examination by cramming, not to be savvy in their fields of learning and equipped with relevant skills, just because veracity of societal expectation on Grade Point and certification, hold sway. As consequence of this development, tertiary institutions in this clime turn out half-baked graduates. This is exasperating and calls for urgent effort to address the anomaly.
Many students have committed SUICIDE while some are victims of RAPE all in the name of Grade Point. The incident of a Unilorin final year Agric Engineering student that committed suicide in 2018 at Oke-odo still lingers in the minds many . RAPE cases at FUOYE- Ekiti , UNILAG, SEX for MARK at AUCHI Polytechnic, OAU, cases of examination malpractice/ impersonation that made Unilorin and UniAbuja to expel some students years ago and bribing lecturers for good Grade that is going in some other higher institutions of learning across the country are in the catalogue of history.
Nepotism, in Nigeria even globally is a condemnable act, it has rubbished the famous belief of ‘come out with a good grade and secure good job’. But interestingly, there is a modicum of goodness in evil as that fact has now opened the eyes of students to the fact that sometimes you don’t need good grade to secure good job. It is quite unfortunate that the best hands don’t get deserved job placement as a result of this prevalent problem.
In conclusion, productivity, creativity and innovation and other positive results which can only be garnered through sound knowledge has been relegated to the background. It is, therefore, behoove on stakeholders to make a choice between emphasis on certification or genuine pursuit of KNOWLEDGE.
Abdullahi can be reached via abdullahioyedemi100@gmail. com
