-By: Sonnet
The Working Students – they have to earn money, they have to study and pass well; often cornered in a dilemma. For many working full-time students in University of Ibadan after the Nigerian economy was thrown into a tailspin, the academic calendar has become pretty challenging especially when you have to juggle 7am to 7.p.m classes from Mondays to Thursday with weekend jobs all through the 13 weeks of teaching; or when you have to choose between attending some classes and ushering for a paid event.
Fridays are a little fair in dealing with one’s normal busy schedules as a Uite, but certainly not in all situations; not when your most Revered Professor or HOD fixes a make-up class for his lost time with you.
I started living a double life – working and studying, in 200 level and I nearly died; trust me, having to complete my 75% attendance requirement for my eight 2nd semester courses was tasking enough. I was on a first class, so I didn’t want some wicked close-to-seventy marks to disgrace my CGPA – therefore I my managed to write all my GES essays amidst all struggles. Still I had to work and survive’ especially when I was collecting less than N5, 000 a month as allawee from my parents. Meanwhile, I was on a loan from home – my school fee and accommodation levy almost missed deadline before I got this help. Besides, there were materials to buy, textbooks to get (especially GES), registrations to do, dues to be paid and a lot of lady’s needs to be met. So I had to choose this life- work and study. Whenever I missed any class and my friend Janet asked – I simply replied I’m a working class student; you may not just understand me yet”. And now, enough of my story already before you think I’m just another student with misguided priorities; because working and study is the reality of many students these days even on UI campus.
For many jobless regular students, working and studying never tango especially in an academic setting such as UI. The serious academic environment usually injects an average student with the fear of failure which comes in apparels of tsunami or erosion. However, some students despite that the university system forces them to choose between job and school still manage to engage in other activities that fetch them money and also add to their personal and career development.
Yes, taking up a job can affect your scores because you might have to miss classes, group meetings and even tests – but definitely not exams. Everyone knows why. Little wonder these ones hardly get enough time to sleep.
The choice of working plus studying is most times the only right option for not just students who are either orphans or with not-too-supportive parents; but also students who wish to be financially independent or just simply hard-working.
“Face your books oh. It is school I sent you to, so you can read and learn” was Mary’s mother’s advice when she was leaving home earlier this semester. But Mary, even though she has many of her needs met as a student – nobody at home cares about her extra co-curricular activities which cost her some financial contributions. Instead of heeding her mother’s words, Mary rather works at the Jaja clinic under the school’s work-study scheme, in order to support what she gets from home. At times, she feels guilty especially when her CGPA dropped to a 2-1 in her final year, however, her wealth of experience in people management and financial literacy lights up her face with smiles of a promising career life after school.
Femi, the CEO of Kwiki karts and a 400L student of communication and Language Arts department has no regrets missing classes in order to attend to his blooming business because his work is very important. He does support himself from that.
“It’s usually a clash of two worlds. Sometimes I miss tests and assignments; lectures have to be very well concluded to be attended”, Rachel, a 400L student of English department confirms.
For Sola, the time table for classes especially at the beginning of a new semester constitutes a big headache for him. “The stress of rushing to work, where I teach and then back to my class could bother me to a point of starvation. Sometimes, I think I get too busy to get me to eat, because I am also involved in other things in school”, he commented.
“Sometimes, Mummy calls and I tell her I’m eating noodles; she would say it’s bad that I shouldn’t be eating that at a late hour. Meanwhile, that is the only fast food I can cook by 10:50 p.m. most times, before I fall asleep. And then I sleep only to dream about the 7a.m rehearsals to attend to in the day and after that , a useless stretch of time, then a class to teach by 5 p.m., and then assignments and terms papers to sort out when I return.”
The struggle of combining work with school is expressed in Sola’s comments as he continued, “At a time in 200level, I deleted a course because it was interfering with work. It was the hardest time for me when I had up to 3 tutorial jobs because; I had to sort my finances of course. One was very far that I’d to literally travel there and then back to class”.
Being a full time 400 level Law student and a fashion designer may not be quite easy for Babanifesi, but here, he says he quite enjoys juggling both work and school as this makes him a better time manager as well as a professional in his job. “Beyond making money, working makes me think creatively and provides social binding opportunities for me – but it’s always a struggle as a UI student”, he lamented.
Olamide, who is not the popular Badoo but another Uite says, “Hustling can be very tasking. Sometimes, I work as an usher or teach or even do odd jobs such as packing stuffs for people. I suffered from high B.P at some point that I had to drop my two other jobs. I have bills to pay, things to buy and I like being financially independent as a lady. But there is little I can do to achieve all of my working goals in an academic environment such as UI.”
Yes, working as students for many Uites has proved a tough-time. The system does not encourage it; and many of our administrators care less about indigent and surviving students. And what about the University’s work study scheme? Well active, but not quite effective as Blessing Omoike, a DLC student who engages in the university’s work-scheme says, “There are times when the little payment we get compared to the huge work we do is still delayed – at times for weeks, months. Sometimes when we work as ushers, many of our employers use us because they know we are students. At times, some students’ time tables are not favourable as they call to say they are either having tests or a make-up classes, even when they get job opportunities because we don’t usually get jobs all the time. And even when some of us end up working, we end up too stressed up to read, and too tired to meet up with deadlines thus affecting our academics too because working hard in this kind of system affects one psychologically too.”
In short, the wages of students who work under this scheme despite the tight academic environment either comes late or quite small as compared to the jobs they do.
“Attending morning classes and maintaining punctuality is usually a challenge to me. For instance, I might have a class by 8:00am and stay up till like 5:00 am only to finish a work by around 7:30am and having less than thirty minutes to prepare for and attend a class from off campus. And then you get to class say like 8:10 am and your lecturer decides that you can’t attend his class again that day – it can be quite challenging”, Kolade Freedom, a student who works as a writer, editor, publisher and literary consultant said regretfully. Just like him, many working students find academic demands burdening with the jobs they do. While trying to create a healthy balance as a student, Freedom added that he tries to keep up with deadlines because there is a need to also make money in order to stay afloat and live well, in this present Nigerian economy.
Working and learning is the only likely solution for many students especially after the accommodation levy was increased and the medical fees for the college of medicine was introduced earlier this session. Many of these students hardly get enough time to sleep or mingle with other classmates, all because they have to work to support themselves. The social life of these ones amounts zero or less than one, at the end of the day. Getting a degree comes with many costs especially when tuition fee is being increased by many universities in Nigeria; hence, these students have got to pay just like every other person even if it means sacrificing their hang-out sessions or breaks. For them, there is usually never enough time for anything because they are always busy even in their sleep.
It’s true that education is the best legacy and the main purpose of coming to school is to study- hence, this piece is not asking that the School Management sacrifice her study-based and academic-excellence motives to please the livelihood of the working students however, the school policy-makers can support working students by making the work-study scheme come alive again and revising it’s token-based financial reward to a more serious and value-adding gain for these students. This would in turn contribute the University’s mission of producing graduates who would contribute to the transformation of society through creativity and innovation.
No doubts, there is a need for a more friendly calendar, especially a better one to the present which we are currently operating. Yes, the Management is pursuing the vision of the school to being a world-class university; but our hope that it is not at the expense of students’ total well-being.
Finally, creating a flexible academic environment may not be too selfish to ask as this will similarly help the non-working students to simultaneously acquire more skills while learning as students. And if financial aids can be generated internally, why shouldn’t this world-class public Nigerian university see this as a huge investment in their students by offering them grants to support living?
(Pictures from Google images)
