Mass failure in university: A sarcastic humour

The university among other things, is the power base of intellect. It tends to be immeasurably respected that the graduates from other tertiary institutions such as colleges and polytechnics would remain unsatisfied and literarily unfulfilled without having a bite of the wholesome contents that it promises. This super and superb position of the university, is reinforced in the eligibility criteria of the admission seekers. The score base of the university seems more competitive, demanding, and a little incredible compared to the others. Apart from this, it is the palace of renowned dons. A reserved home of distinguished readers and professors. The university, many a time,parades academic doctors in their full form.it is no wonder it serves, metaphorically, as the heaven everyone, regardless, of their callings, professions and exploits, will want to visit.

If the university teachers are unquestionably perfect in their business, then, why the gross failure? Mass failur at the fundamental level or secondary schools, though, draws some discomfort, nonetheless, excusable. Anytune there's a collosal amount of failure in the terminal examination for the final class in the secondary schools, fingers are quickly pointed in the direction of teachers. Unarguably, a lot of uncalled teachers have gatecrashed into the teaching profession as a temporary rescue from the world of unending joblessness. This odd exodus of the untrained teachers into the teaching business is aided by the unregulated growth of schools in the country. It appears that, to start a school business, these days, in Nigeria, one only needs one's religious convictions and the " I believe in God" mentality. With such an offensive system, it is intelligible to indict the tutors of the children whenever there is a mass failure.

Like teachers in the pre_tertiary institutions, are lecturers also half-baked? Are the university teachers incapable of imparting knowledge since, education works like GIGO- Garbage in, garbage out? With their humongous and frightening certifictions, are they just competent but not good, or not very good?. According to the performance theory, there is a linear relationship between input and output, thus, if the input (the university teacher) is deficient, the output ( the student) will be defective. By extension, output is a function of input. If the output ( students' performance) is low, then the input (the student's effort) is demeaning. This brings us to the recent results of the faculty of pharmacy, in Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU) , which were marred with unprecedent mass failure. While the cause of this worrisome phenomenon may not be correctly established, it stands humorous, that the ivy league, the home of proven academics is going through a nagging experience of some ridiculous realities. Decades past, when men were boys, a tale of Ojo (A Yoruba name) and teacher was popularly relayed. A VIP guest entered the class, no sooner had he made his way into the class, there was a nauseating fart, our guest gruesomely fumed, who did that? The teacher pointed in the direction of Ojo, in response, Ojo pointed, without any panic, at the teacher. For this mass failure, it is Ojo-teacher tale, while the management's conspicuous fingers are going in the direction of students, the students on their part, are arguing that no-one should go unscathed.

To be fair to Obafemi Awolowo University, the bleating experience of gross failure at the tertiary level, seems not to be characteristic of any particular university. In March, 2019, a large group of students of Delhi University protested and held a press conferenc to raise the issue of mass failure of students in various departments of M.A. and M.S.C. According to the Champion, a daily, it was alleged that in the Mathematics Department, 35 students out of 39 failed. The rate of mass failure is as high as 90% in some departments at Delhi university.

In summary, with mass failure in the university, the resonant question is this- who is in? And who is out?.

Ogunnaike Samuel, wrote from Lagos