BUAN students back in class
Goitsemodimo Kaelo | Wednesday August 23, 2017 16:23
The students returned to classes on Monday after the school management made an undertaking to address their concerns.
Initially, the students were unhappy with shortage of lecturers for certain courses, congestion in classrooms, delayed protective clothing, lack of an operating refectory within the school, poor drainage system at the students’ hostels, lack of Wi-Fi and poor lighting within the school. The president of the Students Representative Council (SRC) Kealeboga Mokgalagadi told Mmegi that they resolved to return to classes following a meeting with the school management.
He said the management promised to attend to most of their concerns within a short period of time. “They made promises to us that they will try to resolve our concerns quickly. We agreed to return to classes yesterday (Monday) because by Friday, they had started delivering on some of the things we agreed on,” said Mokgalagadi on Tuesday.
He added that the management pledged additional lecturers will start work this week. They also promised to reschedule some classes to bigger lecture rooms to deal with the issue of congestion. According to the SRC president, some classes were over-crowded with up to 185 students sitting shoulder to shoulder in a room capable of accommodating only 65 students.
This, he said meant acute shortage of chairs and desks for a considerable student population. “It did not provide a conducive environment for learning. Some students ended up not attending class,” he said.
On the issue of delayed protective clothing, he said some students were given their overalls and boots over the weekend while those who reside outside campus will get it during the course of the week.
“We are satisfied with the level of progress so far. It seems the management is keeping to its word and delivering on their promises. Already we can see some people on site also fixing the lights around the school.
We are told a company has already been engaged to put up Wi-Fi. We are concerned that they only acted after we boycotted classes,” he added.
BUAN public relations officer Onkgopotse Moreri said the students are back to classes following last week’s disruption. “We have managed to talk to them and they have been back in class since Monday. We have resolved the issues because most of them were already in the pipeline.
They acknowledged that certain things cannot be achieved overnight and we accepted, ” said Moreri. She said it is expected that the university may encounter challenges as it undergoes transformation. She pointed out that incidents of drainage system challenges will be encountered because there has been an increase of students intake.
“Transformation is a process. We have to start somewhere, and our plans for such transformation are aligned to a specific budget. Capacity has increased and as such, a thing such as drainage system has to improve. We have to construct new buildings to accommodate such growth and it is in the pipeline,” she said.
BUAN was established in 2015 after Parliament passed the Botswana University of Agriculture and Natural Resources (BUAN) Act, which transformed the Botswana College of Agriculture (BCA) into a fully-fledged university. The university has previously been an associate of the University of Botswana.
Early this year, the Minister of Agriculture and Food Security, Patrick Ralotsia told Parliament that government has allocated P385 million for the expansion of the BUAN under the National Development Plan (NDP) 11 as it transforms into a fully-fledged university.
The funds will be used for things such as refurbishment of staff houses and students hostels, insulation of the student centre hall, purchase of audit management software, upgrading of lecture rooms and laboratories and project vehicles.