The ABU Distance Learning Centre insists on holding exams in flood-stricken Maiduguri, frustrating students.
Ahmadu Bello University Distance Learning Centre (ABU DLC) students express frustration as the college plans to hold examinations in Maiduguri, even with the floods displacing over a million people.
On Friday, plans scheduled tests in Maiduguri and other Nigerian cities. On Tuesday, the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) reported that 70% of Maiduguri, Borno State’s capital, had flooded, trapping residents and forcing dangerous wildlife, such as crocodiles and snakes, out of the Sanda Kyarimi Zoological Park.
Despite the pandemonium, ABU DLC emailed students on Wednesday that examinations would still be held in Maiduguri. The email provided two alternatives for flood-affected students: an emergency deferral or a 10-hour journey to Yola to take the examinations.
Nana Aisha, a Maiduguri student who chose a different test center, opposed the choice, worried about her classmates. “Some may not even be aware of the email due to the situation, and they are likely not in the right state of mind to sit for exams,” she told FIJ.
Traveling to Yola is likewise viewed skeptically. Many students and social media users blasted the institution for requiring unsafe long-distance travel. X user @_Gonii said, “In all this devastation, @ABU_DLC is asking students to go to Adamawa or defer the semester. If invigilators are unsafe, so are we.”
Students and their families worry about the safety and practicality of conducting examinations under such circumstances. Many want the institution to automatically reschedule Maiduguri examinations.
CREDIT: Allschoolabs, MYSCHOOL.ng
