By Shehu Uthman
For Muhammad Usman Dattijo, an indigene of Niger State, economic challenges have not only put most of his plans on hold, but also severally denied him the opportunity to resume school early every semester. The burden of carrying the family’s responsibilities has been placed on the 300-level law student shoulders since the demise of his father.
“For years, I have shouldered the role of breadwinner for my family. Since my teenage years, the weight of responsibility has rested on my shoulders, and I’ve had to take it on with determination and resilience,” Muhammad whined.
“Before, I was consumed by worry and depression, but over time, I’ve grown accustomed to the hardships and become more detached. Ironically, relatives who showed us love and support when my dad was alive have become indifferent to our struggles. Life has taught me valuable lessons and made me stronger, enabling me to face the world with even greater determination.”
In a tattering voice, Datti Muhammad concluded that his occupation, apart from being a law student, is poultry farming, which serves as his main source of income.
“As a poultry farmer, I need to wait a while to ensure that the fowls grow well and can be sold to pay my school fees and take care of myself and even my siblings at home.”
“This means that I have to be patient and dedicated to my work, as the income from the poultry farm is crucial for my academic pursuits and supporting my family. It’s a challenging balancing act, but I’m determined to make it work and achieve my goals.”
Statistics Revealing a Disturbing Trends
Muhammad’s woe is however, not unfound. Each day countless students come to school, each with their own set of unique gifts, abilities, and challenges.
Recent data has found that students living in poverty often face far more challenges than their peers. According to the National Center of Education Statistics, 19 percent of individuals lived in poverty. Furthermore, 24.4 percent of students attended high-poverty schools.
In addition, Research by the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), found that students from low-income families are more likely to experience food insecurity, which negatively affects their academic achievement (NCES, 2019).
Moreover, Research by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD, 2018) found that students from disadvantaged backgrounds are more likely to drop out of school, with a dropout rate of 7.4% compared to their peers from more advantaged backgrounds.
The Tales Continue
Another student who pleaded to be anonymous, whined about the reason behind his late resumption.
“The reason why I’m away from school is that I didn’t get enough foodstuffs that will suffice me for a whole semester. Just imagine resuming early to school and after two months, your edibles finished, what a big problem! These are the advantages the rich kids have over us, though the fingers are not equal and God knows best,” he began.
He added, “Transport fare is another conspicuous challenge that I’m facing. At least, I will have the minimum of 45,000 naira on the ground before being conveyed back to school. This is because the transit from my local government to Ilorin will cost me 15,000 naira including my feeding money and from Ilorin to Sokoto, the driver will not collect anything less than 28,000 naira”.
Meanwhile, Yahaya Abubakar Kosia, a 200-level student of Pure Chemistry, complained sorrowfully to our reporter that some of his results had not been released amd this contributed to what is discouraging him from resuming.
“The reason why many people did not resume yet is that we never saw one of our results and at the same time, we did not do course registration. We are supposed to see our last semester’s examination results before we resume”.
Experts Weigh in
In an interview with the Deputy Dean, Dr. Sulaiman Lawal, from Faculty of Education and Extension Services, emphasized that the core issue leading to students’ late resumption is precipitated by the earlier sallah celebration, where parents spent a lot to buy rams, foodstuffs and expensive clothes for the family.
“Most parents had spent their money over the months, during sallah celebration, buying rams, food, sumptuous clothes for their wife’s and offsprings. So now that it’s time for the students to resume, there is no such enough money for parents to buy foodstuffs, and other necessities for their children to come back to school with”.
He continued, “The increase of transport fare by drivers due to high cost of petrol has escalated and worsened the late resumption”. He noted that although students face different
Dr. Sulaiman Lawal furthered that late resumption can leave scars on the students and even bring them to their knees.
“Lectures are on going right now and some students are away, why won’t that affect them. A lecturer, while delivering his lectures, will probably use illustrations, examples, acronyms and particular ways of explaining in the class which he will expect the students to apply and use during their tests and exams. How would an absentee be able to do that? Neither magic nor miracle would avail such a student and the tutor would get to understand that oh, this student didn’t attend my lecture, then prone to failure
An assignment will be given to students with strict guidelines and rules to adhere to while working on it, and this is when the late resumes will set forth on transit with haste to arrive at school before deadlines for submission, shouting to drivers to accelerate with unlimited speed which may lead to accidents.”
“When a student is under an unrestful mind and in an uncalm state, would such a student do his or her assignment diligently and perfectly? In fact, no! Such students may arrive tired, in fatigue whereby, can’t prepare well for the test for the next day and may probably fail”.
“Although, some may hide under the shadow of friends for their assignments to be submitted, but that doesn’t mean he or she will pass, because it may not be perfectly done by such a friend”.
He paused after remarking that friends at times are not in the best position to assist. Again that students while on their way, may witness accidents leading to nervous shock and may not perform well on the first day of arrival.
“Meanwhile, the anxiety, fear and nervous shock, may downcast and at the same time constrict him or her to thoroughly devour recommended materials for reading, as it affects their brain, which can result in carrying over a course or even spill over which is the worst of all’.
Speaking with Prof. Halima Sarkinfada, the HOD from Educational Foundations Department, emphasized that the students’ late resumption has nothing to do with the skyrocketing cost of provisions or parents’ inability to support their children. Instead, she noted that students intentionally stay at home, seemingly indifferent – it has become a habit for them, reflecting a misplacement of priorities.”
“Students’ late resumption is not due to high prices of commodities but a habit, due to their nonchalant attitude to school, they hardly attend class nor do they have the 75% attendance. Worst of all is that students don’t read or study any longer”.