INTRODUCTION
Hi everyone, I'm back again to join this wonderful community after 2months of preparing and sitting for my 2nd MBBS exams, to God be the glory it was a success. Students are faced with a whole gamut of challenges but I'll categorize them into personal and general.
Personal Challenges: Here, I'll highlight my personal experiences and that of close friends
General Challenges: Here, I'll highlight the common challenges experienced by all and sundry
PERSONAL CHALLENGES
1) Women:
I know right! Well, Women become a problem when you've decided to steer clear off relationships and focus on your studies, but gorgeous and wonderfully crafted figures keep popping up the entrance of the lecture hall whenever you are seated in class. Sometimes it seems they're fully aware of their crimes because they often come to lectures late when the theatre is full to the brim... trust me, you wouldn't want to look away. :Na so e dey take start" and from there "dem go begin enter your eye" (I still wonder how I've not gone blind yet....**chuckles**).
Women could be a challenge for some and not for others. It lies in one's priority and the ability to multitask. If good grades are your priority, then you've got to keep your head straight and vice versa. My friend and colleague
@kachimax was in a relationship at the peak of our exams. It turned out that the lady prioritized really good grades and
@kachimax being the Joseph of our time, gave her the space she needed and focused on his studies too. Meanwhile, we teased him on our way to studies that he already wanted to dump the girl. My guy felt guilty, picked up his phone and reluctantly made that call. It'd been weeks since they last spoke.
@kachimax on the call
I thought things had gone south
But then this happened! I believe every guy knows this smile
It was a win-win, both parties got what they wanted and are back together.
I've been in one-sided relationships before, where a girl was already dating me without my knowledge. I don't like "serving breakfasts" but it was inevitable. Bottom line: know what you want and it'll direct your actions.
2) FUNDS:
Man is insatiable thus, money could be everyone's problem. But then, it is a serious challenge to some and not to others. With the hike in prices of goods and services in the country, surviving on campus is by God's grace. Coupled with academic stress and the basic needs of a student, the importance of funds cannot be overemphasized. Personally, I stay in Enugu state where the cost of living is quite higher than the standard of living. During my 2nd Mb exams, there was no time to cook so I basically had to buy already made food plus other expenses. It wasn't funny. One has to be buoyant to an extent to have a stress-free life on my campus.
GENERAL CHALLENGES
1) Lack of basic amenities in and around campus.
▪︎ Enugu state is very high above sea level which makes drilling boreholes quite tedious and costly. As a result, hostels usually use a number of reservoir tanks which are exhausted in no time, thus leaving students with lack of water for sometime. Even when available, it is sold at the cost of #70/gallon and it keeps on rising as the country's condition gets worse.
▪︎ Electricity has been an issue in Nigeria that it becomes abnormal when there's constant power supply over weeks or some months. You see people asking questions like "Are you sure PHCN is aware that light has been on" or "Did anyome hold NEPA at gunpoint that they left light up until now"? In campus, there are times when power goes off completelh due to recurrent electrical malfunction or failure of the management to settle bills promptly. This leaves the multitude on campus in the dark. They're unable to read efficiently, communication could be breached due to lack of power on their devices, and it could be hazardous to students in exam period. Students are left at the mercy of mosquitoes that are usually fended off by the light of the bulb and electric fans and this can cause spread of diseases in no time.
▪︎ Hostel hygiene is another challenge dealing with students day in day out. Due to corruption and misappropriation of funds, workers employed to ensure that the hostel environs are kept clean are not paid their wages when due, thus they go on recurrent strikes leaving the hostel very dirty. Students, especially in boys' hostel cannot make use of the toilets, most of them go to the lavatory or a cleaner place outside to do their business. Majority have contracted several infections which has forced them to seek lodges outside campus. I personally have friends that experience a level of phobia whenever they feel the urge to defecate, most don't defecate for days because they keep suppressing it.
2) Negligence of some lecturer's in their duties.
It is quite funny how certain lecturers are never seen in class, but they set questions from where they feel. Fun fact: my 2nd semester exams questions were downloaded online from an Indian site, it wasn't funny. It frustrated the efforts of students and because this is Nigeria and there's no functional regulatory body to checkmate such acts, they go scott free. Students do the learning themselves 85% of the time, even youtube videos teach way better nowadays that we wished we just stayed at home, watched these videos and return to sit our exams. The level of negligence is quite high on the part of some departments and lecturers alike and it poses a challenge as students may emerge 'half-baked'
3) Lack of basic equipments to facilitate learning
In most of our practicals in school, we just did them theoretically. The available equipments weren't functional and our tutors sometimes cracked jokes that those equipments are older than some of our parents. Well, they aren't lying because my dad confirmed that some things has not yet changed in UNN since after the war, not to talk of UNEC where development is nowhere near imminent. I hoped to go advanced once I entered campus after I saw children demonstrate how to ise a microscope as I prepared for BioOlympiad and I never saw one throughout my secondary school days. Only for me to enter 1st yr and I was shocked down my spine; same old same old experiments ranging from simple pendulum to potentiometer and acid-base titration nothing new. Sometimes I don't blame lecturers for their negligence, the country is not favourable to the school system either.
4) Lack of properly screened lecturers.
We all know the saying *"I'm here to lecture and not to teach"*. It is used by most lecturers when they don't have strength to talk too much in class. But should it be so? Inasmuch as some people are gifted teachers and others are not, lecturers should be monitored and assessed from time to time to ensure they deliver on their duties. Prof. Walter Lewin, a Physicist I discovered on youtube in 1st yr catalyzes physics with practical examples within an hr lecture. I started loving physics more because of the man. But then, some lecturers here can't make good use of 2hrs to impact good knowledge, notwithstanding it is just theoretical classes contrary to Lewin's. They just read materials out or crack jokes with their period and leave only to unleash the beast in them during exams. It is a challenge because most lecturers are this way and because the standard of our school system has been dipping, no one cares anymore and things keep getting worse
Summarily, there are tons of challenges on campus in a country like Nigeria, but i believe these are amomg the major ones plaguing most campus students, especially on my campus. I pray that our hope for a better Nigeria and a better system will come to exist in our own time.
Acknowledgememts
@whitestallion
@campusconnectng
I can't stop laughing after reading your challenges with women 😂just as you said, you can stay off women and then not face any Challenges from them.
The fund aspect it is indeed a major Challenge for all Student.
Nice write you put up
Thanks dear.
True, funds can solve a lot
Nice reading about challenge broh.
Heaven is the goal you know! So you got to chase heaven and the money 💰 bag.
Meanwhile, amongst other challenges in your Campus, do you think it is possible to get rid of all of this inconveniencing situations so students can have a better learning environ
What you said bro! Heaven and the bag 🏋️♀️
It is very possible if every administrative unit deliver on their duties promptly. It all stems from corruptiom which has eaten deep into our nation.
Even as yesterday was Christmas, some kids denied receiving gifts just to get more... that's how bad it has got.
Diligence and selflessness is what we need most in every system currently