To a more equitable educational system in government-owned universities

From a pained alumnus of a government-owned university!

Once again, I join the congregation of forward-thinking individuals who disagree with the concerns of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) over the increase in first-class graduates from private universities. I join the brave advocate of fairness in the educational system of government-owned universities.

I believe it is important for government-owned universities to realise that education is not about ego; it is about imparting knowledge. Yes, it may be beneficial to gauge how much of this knowledge a student has imbibed through a grading system. Still, this system should not be vulnerable to a lecturer's past experiences or a faculty's perceived reputation of difficulty.

If students read, give them their grades! That is what private universities do! But looking at the other side of the divide, a faculty in a government-owned university can boldly reduce the number of A's in a course to almost half because many students had A's (this was a personal experience). It was not a question of merit; rather, it seemed the faculty wanted to sustain an overbloated sense of difficulty in the faculty. My question till today remains: how does difficulty not translate to efficacy in education or "educational integrity"?

It is not uncommon for occurrences such as the above to take place in government-owned universities. Lecturers can boldly tell you, "A is for God, B is for me, and C is for those who work hard" without consequence. It does not in any way make any sense. In my opinion, it makes students approach the course with a predisposition of lethargy. Of course, students cannot complain or demand a review of their grades because that would supposedly question a lecturer's integrity and frail ego. You would be victimised if you demanded justice and would be made to subsequently, in other courses, pay the price for asking for the dividends of your hard work.

Students do not know what made them fail or perform poorly. They do not understand the grading system. Sometimes, they have to pray ardently that the lecturer's heart is softened even after reading hard to pass a course and possibly bag an A (this is not to despise prayer in any sense). It should be a problem that a course records a 60% failure rate every year. The lecturers responsible for the course should not see it as a badge of honour. It should be a shame that they cannot successfully communicate knowledge to a majority of students in the class.

With this "concern" by ASUU, it is obvious that most, if not all, of government-owned universities hold this same opinion. In private universities, the whims and caprices of lecturers' grading systems that obtain in government-owned universities cannot survive because students pay heavily, and the university can be held accountable. Should the fact that education in government-owned universities is relatively free (although many still struggle to pay) make their native grading system inequitable and void of transparency? ASUU has not raised a concern on these issues I have raised, but they can raise concerns about a system that works. Some of the best universities in Nigeria, according to independent rankings, are private universities. It is hard to see the academic integrity concerns the national president of ASUU has raised. Instead, all I can see is the poor performance of government-owned universities.

Remember, the grades of students are not only a reflection of the students' performance but also a metric to judge the efficacy of the lecturers as well as the system. Also, remember that by depriving hard-working students of the dividends of their efforts, you're depriving them of future opportunities.