Former UB SRC presidents speak out

Goitsemodimo Kaelo | Friday March 4, 2016 13:20

 

According to former University of Botswana (UB) SRC president, Kago Mokotedi, the standoff is impacting on the quality of tertiary education. He said the commercialisation of the tertiary education has adversely affected the issue of quality.

Mokotedi told Mmegi that the problems in the education sector are multi-faceted. He said during his time at the premier university, he had on a number of occasions clashed with school management and the notable one being when he was slapped with a suspension letter. He said they complained about the quality of lecturers at the School of Medicine and the cancellation of supplementary exams. He said students are always engaged in class boycotts and strikes because they are angry and frustrated by what is happening in the institutions of learning. Mokotedi opined that there is acute shortage of leadership at tertiary schools and ministry level because of mushrooming of ‘briefcase’ institutions.

“They run these schools like kindergarten. They do not want to engage the SRC but rather want to instruct them on what to do. There is general animosity. They just forget that the SRCs are representing the constituents, in this case the students. We talk the same language and if we don’t agree with management we take legal action,” he said.

He stated that both the school management and the ministry officials make reactionary, emotional, impulsive and knee jerk decisions leading to them suspending students when they question them. He said the management perceive the SRCs as agents of opposition.

“What is happening at New Era is an example of the problems that besiege the tertiary education sector, the hostility of the school management who perceive SRC to be representing opposition sentiments. There is fear that SRCs are anti the ruling regime and are politicising student issues. SRCs are only lobbying for what is good for the students.”

He challenged government to be allies with the SRCs because it pays millions to tertiary private institutions. He said to address the issue of the deteriorating quality of education, there is need to commission an enquiry to assess the quality of tertiary education. He said government should also strictly monitor and regulate all tertiary institutions and assess them on a quarterly basis.

Khumoekae Richard, another former UB SRC president, said students should be applauded for demanding quality education from the institutions. He said their rioting should not be viewed in a negative light as the future of the country is at stake. He stated that during his time as the SRC president, he observed that the strikes were perpetuated by the “arrogant and undemocratic” nature in which the school management wanted to address students.

“If you have prudent leaders, you will never have legal cases between the school and students. Grievances need to be addressed constructively not by authoritative approach,” he said. He stated that the rigid approach adopted by both the institutions management and the ministry is frustrating the students. Richard noted that the institutions and ministry have lost in almost all the court cases against the students. He said if this is not addressed education woes will continue. “There are also so many losses associated with these strikes.”

Time meant for learning was lost and never compensated following the litigations. In 2015 the UB SRC took the school management to court after the school announced that they had banned student politics in the university. The students believed that the management was violating their constitutional right following their decision to ban student politics on campus. UB SRC also took the MoESD to court in 2009 after the ministry declined to pay tuition fees, maintenance, accommodation and personal allowance for retaking students. The court reversed the ministry’s decision.

In another case involving ABM University in 2014, Justice Barnabas Nyamadzabo of the Francistown High Court ruled in favour of the students who had been suspended from the institution. The students, who were all members of the SRC, were suspended in 2013 after boycotting classes protesting against the quality of courses at the institution.

In 2013, 12 learners at the Limkokwing University of Creative Technology, led by then suspended SRC president, Poloko Pitwane, clashed with the police and were charged with a single count of rioting. The students had rioted in protest of unpaid allowances and the quality of teaching at the institution.

In February 2016, New Era College SRC president, Anderson Diteko, filed an urgent application at the High Court challenging his suspension from the school. He successfully won the case. The school management had suspended him saying he displayed indisciplined behaviour and violated rules and regulations as stipulated in the student handbook.

He was also suspended because he had complained about the school offering courses that were not credited and also the quality of teaching at the institution.