Date: 2016-03-03

Students of the Federal Polytechnic, Offa (OFFA POLY) in Kwara State are not finding it easy registering for their courses. They queue up for hours in the bank to pay their fees. They describe the manual registration as stressful. WALE AJETUNMOBI reports.

When will this manual registration stop?" Ahmed Adeyinka, a Higher National Diploma (HND) 1 student of the Federal Polytechnic in Offa (OFFA POLY), lamented, after standing in the sun for hours, waiting to pay his school fee at a micro-finance bank.

Registration has become a pain for students, who queue up for hours daily in banks to pay their fees. The transactions precede what the students called the chaotic procedure for course registration they have to go through. Since the management is not ready to digitalise the process, students have been lamenting the stress that comes with it. Besides, students also accused the three microfinance banks, which collect the fees, of extorting them before they are allowed to pay.

Receipt collection, they complained, is always rowdy. This, they said, led to the stampede, which resulted in the shutting of the banks on several occasions. Worst hit are students on the Ojoku permanent campus, who travel about eight kilometres to the mini campus, where the banks are located. The students abandon lectures for the banks.

To avoid the stress, some students seek the help of members of the Students' Union Government (SUG) and lecturers for ease of payment. Those who cannot influence things, are accusing the management of nonchalance in digitalising the platform.

"Why should a school make students go through manual registration in this age of advanced technology?" Mary Ibeh, a fresh student, queried, adding: "This is computer age when most of the human activities are done through internet. Other schools have since digitalised their operations, making registration easy for students. In other places, students pay from the comfort of their hostels, rather than queuing up in the sun."

When CAMPUSLIFE visited the banks, they were rowdy as students struggled in the sun to buy the "compulsory receipts" they would attach to their credentials before signing their courses. The receipts are to be presented to the Deans, Heads of Departments and the registration office. Despite the students' predicament, management seems unconcerned.

A final year student of Mechanical Engineering, who declined to give his name, described the management as insensitive. "The management is not sensitive to the plight of students. We have been complaining since the school resumed yet there has been no move to attend to our complaints. We have been complaining of extortion in the payment method, this obviously does not bother anybody. We cannot fold our arms and allow management to make us pass through stress. This must stop," he said.

Tawakalt Abdulrasaq, an Accountancy student, waxed philosophical, saying: "History will not forget two people: a man who saw challenges in a system but failed to act, and a man who transforms a system for the benefit of humanity. The action of school management today will not be forgotten."

Suliat Alabi, a National Diploma (ND) 1 Mathematics and Statistics student, said the "chaotic registration" had prevented her from attending lectures since she resumed. She said: "I never expected the registration would be tough like this. I have dedicated much of my time to making payment at the bank, without being able to go for lectures. Many students fail, not because of their poor performance but because of time wasted on registration. We expect the management to act fast and solve this problem."

Kazeem Yekeen, a HND 1 Mass Communication student, lamented the untidy exercise, saying: "Many of us are disappointed that the school is yet to go digital. I could remember in 2014, when many of us were on industrial training and our results were released. I was in Lagos and I was forced to run down to school to check my results. In this age of technology, the results should have been pasted on the school website and any students could check from any location."

Another Mass Communication student, who simply gave his name as Diamond, said the state-owned Kwara State Polytechnic stopped manual registration years ago. "I obtained my National Diploma from Kwara State Polytechnic. There was no time I passed through this kind of registration process I am facing in OFFA POLY. I will appeal to the management to upgrade and digitalise its activities," he said. Fatai Ganiyu, a HND 1 Business Administration student, blamed the Federal Government for the institution’s inability to go digital, saying the Federal Ministry of Education "has not properly performed its oversight on the school."

Efforts to get the institution's Public Relations Officer, Ladi Badmus, failed as he did not pick his calls. The Head of Mass Communication Department, Mr David Oloyede, told CAMPUSLIFE: "I won't be able to tell you much on the matter, because it is an issue that concerns the Students' Union and the management. Our own is to teach students under a secured and conducive environment."

SUG president Yusuf Imran, who spoke on telephone, said the union had approached the management on the issue, adding that the challenges would be addressed soon. He said: "In fact, we are looking on how students can register on the website. There is no iota of truth in the notion that the school does not want to upgrade its operation technologically. The school has been doing online screening for new applicants in the last four years. We are looking at how we can improve the system."