NOUN Students Accuse School Management Of Extortion, Seek Tinubu, Minister Of Education’s Intervention
Some students of the National Open University of Nigeria have accused the management of the school of extortion after a sudden introduction of N5,000
payment to each student for their TMAs (Tutor Marked Assignments),
The students made a plea to the Mr. President, Asiwaju Bola Hammed Tinubu, and the Nigeria Minister of Education, Tahir Mamman to investigate and punish whatever was involved in the introduction of the illegal levy imposed on the students of NOUN.
The management of the National Open University of Nigeria has earlier announced to the students the submitted Tutor Marked Assignments ( Continuous Assessments Test ) which cover 30% of the 100% overall assessment’s score have been canceled due to the school’s detection of malpractices on the side of students after the submission of their TMA on the school portal. The school informed the students that, their examinations which are of 70% total grade had put for 100% after the cancellation of the TMA that covered 30% scores.
Thereafter, on Thursday 13th of June, NOUN wrote their students through the school register, Oladipo A. Ajayi, that has rescinded its decision to base the overall assessments on examinations after several pleas by the students.
” After careful consideration and in response to various appeals from students and members of the University community, Management has decided that the affected students will have the opportunity to retake the TMA.”
Thereafter, NOUN said the school decision comes with some implications:
To cause a delay in the release of the 2024.1-semester results;
Each student is to pay a surcharge of N5,000.00 irrespective of the number of TMA courses to be retaken as an administrative cost for the courses while the payment of the surcharge is expected to be in effect from Friday, 14th-23rd June 2024.
However, the N5,000.00 surcharge has sparked outrage and frustration among students, who feel unfairly targeted and extorted, they described the development as a scam.
The student said things started falling apart when the school informed them that the already submitted TMA had been canceled and made the situation look like a written script by the management when they asked each student to pay a sum of N5,000.00 to redo the TMA online.
Some of the students who spoke to Westerndaynews through Whatsapp chats expressed their strong opposition to the earlier decision of the school management to cancel their already completed TMAs (Tutor Marked Assignments) and present demand of
N5,000.00 from student to retake their assessments.
One of the students who chatted with our reporter with a request that her name shouldn’t be in print said, ” For years, students have completed their TMAs online, which accounted for 30 marks, and then wrote exams either through pen-on-paper or CBT. However, without any evidence or justification, the university has accused students of not completing their TMAs themselves and initially threatened to base their exams on 100% marks but later resolved to cancel our already completed TMAs (Tutor Marked Assignments) and demand that we redo the assignments and pay a compulsory fee of 5,000 naira. This is a time we need the government to fight for us, our schools are not doing well for us.
While investigating further, our reporter chatted with one of the 300 level of the institution, studying Political Science, he said ” We believe that the decision made by the school management is unfair and unjustified, it is purely a form of extortion and violation of our rights as students, a breach of trust and confidence in the university.
According to Wahabi Adekunle Fasasi, also a student at the Faculty of Social Science, he said, all that the NOUN management is trying to do is to take in money from students, and with N5,000.00 each from students, they will have close to a billion naira to share.
” So far, everybody knows that the N5,000.00 demanded is illegal and not online with the regulations and practices of the school, we urge the university management to, cancel the compulsory 5,000 naira fee and reuse our already completed TMAs as well as provide clear guidelines and evidence-based procedures for TMA completion.
We refuse to be extorted and demand fair treatment. We request a prompt reversal of this decision and a constructive dialogue to resolve this matter amicably. Moreover, we want Asiwaju Bola Tinubu and our minister,
Tahir Mamman’s intervention on the issue, the mastermind of the imposition among the staff of the school shouldn’t go unpunished.” Fasasi stated.
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