Interview

EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW WITH DR. STEPHEN LAFENWA,

 THE SUB DEAN OF THE FACULTY OF THE SOCIAL SCIENCES

By Boluwatife Adeyemo, George Miracle and Adelere Mayokun

On this edition of exclusives, Fatsssa Press decided to have a chat with the Sub Dean of the faculty of Social Sciences. He was very open and willing to share; this is one interview we didnt want to end. Enjoy reading!!!

Good afternoon sir. My name is Boluwatife Adeyemo a 300L student in the department of Geography.

I'm here in the name of Fatsssapress press and here is my co press member, George Miracle from the department of geography in 200l.

May we meet you sir?

I'm Steven Akinyemi Lafenwa the sub dean of the undergraduate of the faculty of the social sciences and also a UI senate member. I teach Political science in the department of Political science, University of Ibadan. 

Thank you sir. 

The aim of this interview is to get students adequately informed and also to be aware of the peculiarities in this semester, as well as  what would be required of them, asking questions they would have wished to ask themselves.

Sir, there have been rumours that some of our students in this Faculty, in some unspecified halls of residence have tested positive to Covid-19. To the best of your knowledge sir, how true is this?

As the sub dean of the faculty, they confirmed that there were three cases, one from political science, the guy has been released. The guy was tested positive and sent to olodo, the isolation center and been discharged. Then two from psychology, last week it was reported that two of them have been discharged. 

Sir, we have also been hearing rumors that the university management seek that all students get vaccinated, and our FATSSSA executives circulated information that students should come for health checkup and vaccination. Is this compulsory for all students Sir?

The arrangement is not only for students, the arrangement is to capture staffs both academic and non-teaching staffs and also their dependents.

The information that I received does not show that it is compulsory. They didn't make it compulsory because some academic staffs and non-academic staffs are yet to indicate their interest as at now. I think the same thing goes for students. They can't make it compulsory because some students and staffs have received those doses and they won't day it's compulsory for them. From the memo he received that it should not be compulsory but they encouraged that everyone should receive the donation from the Oyo state government and the University of Ibadan management will want to take the advantage of the opportunity.

Since its not compulsory, there are some students who will not want to take it maybe in relation to their religion or health issues or any best reasons that will be known to them, don't you think there will be some form of discrimination against them among students and lecturers?

You know, this issue of taking vaccine is an ethical issue, the stage that we are now it's not compulsory but if we have established cases of covid 19 and if the casually increased, they may now begin to enforce it, but even if they want to enforce it one if the condition is that the vaccines must be available. It was a donation, even in the entire Oyo state, how many doses of vaccines were given to Oyo state. Even Nigeria as a whole it's not up to 1 million and adults in Nigeria are more than 100million, so unless it is available and people now refuse to, that is when it becomes an issue. and another thing has to do with what happen after you have received the vaccines, are you free to open up your mouth?, not cover up? No you still have to observe the covid 19 protocols, you know a reasonable person will now ask himself or herself if I've taken vaccines, then I should be free from all these protocols but they said you're still going to and that does not mean you cannot still contact covid 19. So the essence of the vaccines is that it will boost the immunity of the body because of those that have underlying ailments and some because of the fear of consequences of receiving the vaccines like the aftermath, some people complained that after receiving the doses, they were not normal and it took them some time to regain their strength and sanity so, that may scare but as at now we cannot say that we force anybody because if you force somebody to take it now and there's no national policy or regulation from government, they can sue you for that and that is why the management of the university is threading consciously so as to ensure that people are persuaded if they are willing to take the vaccines but what is more important is the medical checkup because in Nigeria here, we don't have the culture of going for medical checkup may be because of poverty or ignorance or lack of awareness among others, that may be the reason but we don't have that record of people going for medical checkup, people only go once in a year or twice in a year and I can remember there was a time when some staffs died and made mandatory for all of us to go for medical checkup, it was God that saved some people through that exercise some people went there just to go and do medical checkup and they ended up in UCH when their BP have risen beyond level so if not because of that exercise they would have died also. I also went for medical checkup. 

Sir, some rumour have it that some time people take the vaccines only to suffer some psychological trauma; don't you think it will have effect on the students of the faculty sir?

It depends on who is giving the enlightenment program, that is who is educating because these are some of the statement that have not been confirmed. Unless we give them the vaccines here and see the result, we cannot confirm because what we can establish here is that some people have phobia for it and the information they are receiving is not only i n Nigeria, people have friends abroad and they communicate through the social media platforms who are giving them information so, how true those information are have not been confirmed until those that have received the vaccines here begin to complain but those who have phobia, there's nothing we can do except they are threatened and I don't think the university management will do that because as at today Nigeria government has not come out to say that if you don't take the vaccines you should not do this or that.

There are also certain rumour that our First semester results are out and would be uploaded as from the coming weekend. How true is this sir? How are the results coming and when should students be expecting all of their results to be out?

They have given us deadline by the  board of examiners for result to be uploaded but you know I give kudos to our lecturers and even our students because it may interest you that we spent 7months in a semester and we carry over first semester into the second semester as the undergraduates are writing exam, we were told to start lectures for those who are not writing exam, we continue to teach the post graduate students, when the undergraduates come back for lectures, the post graduate students started their exams. Using myself as example, I taught 4courses in first semester, 3 undergraduate courses and 1 post graduate course, in one of the courses (Pos 111). I have about 682 students and I have to grade their CA and exams. For Pos 211 I have about 400 students and post graduate is there too. We're marking and trying but from the look of things, from what I wharf from psychology, they had problem in uploading their courses in last session so some of the result of students did not reflect in transcript so they are trying to solve the problem and along the line marking the last semester. For example I have finished marking 2 of my courses that is POS 111 and 366 but what I want to do to avoid all these complains from students, I want to show my results to students so that if there's any complain but I'm looking for a way to do it so that I will not break the covid 19 protocols because if I paste the results of up to 700 students, they be in hurry to check their results and some students, after checking they will still come and recheck so how will you send them away. So, I'm looking for a way of decentralizing the results. The 300level students I've asked them to come on after the other to check their results because they are not many but by next week, I'd upload my results.

Going by the covid 19 protocols and how the lecturers have been taking classes and exams, that delayed the uploading of the results, sir is it possible for the lecturers to be uploading their results online so as not violate the covid 19 protocols?

The arrangement we made in the department is to prevent what we experienced last session why some students score will be seen and the students will write letter and that correction will not be effected even till that student get to final year. Some students who are not able to afford android phone and cannot connect to the internet and that is why is some students did not do well in the last semester.  Some lecturers complained about it in the meeting. It may amaze you to know that more than 50 students applied for suspension of study this session alone on the basis of lack of finances. The dean of the faculty because of her magnanimity paid the school fees of 2 students even fatsssa has to assist some students, we cannot just assume that everybody will have access. For instance, when I conducted my test last semester online, some students about 6 of them used one phone, so when they are to submit their test, they were not able to because they were waiting for others to finish but I didn't know because of the time frame. I've already closed the portal not knowing that some of them I've not submitted. That was why I conducted make up test for them even at that some could not make it because of lack of information. And that is why the university cannot go online fully because of cost. 

The management does not even support pasting of result, what they want is to upload the results and when the results are considered and approved, they open the portal for students to see but students will be eager to see their results and that will also give us feedback from the information about the performance of some students that are needed to be encouraged because if you wait till second semester some of them may not go online and be thinking that they have passed. 

 In reference to results sir, there is a challenge that most students have nursed, we don't get to see our test scores before exams and this often affects our performance in exams.

 All lecturers are different and I will start from the mode of learning adopted, we still had some lecturers who refused to go online, another reason why the university said we should come back for revision and some lecturers had to start teaching during the revision period despite the fact that exams were fast approaching, some lecturers asked their students to submit assignments on the day of exam which will stand as test and there's no way you can see your test result before sitting for that exam but I conducted my test online and students saw their results before exam, I made sure that the test was combined and it was seen and resolved before exam. And there's also the issue of wrong registration, up till this moment, I am still signing course forms and some lecturers haven't approved registration for students, this often causes problems with results.

The results are centrally controlled and it is only the head of the department that can have access to the results once it's being uploaded  and that is  final, the lecturers cannot have a say on it but until they give permission to the coordinator and head of the department that changes cannot be effected and there is always issue of course registration, for instance there was a student that registered for only first semester courses and some lecturers have not gone to approve the course registration form. 

We have heard reports that the semester is both physical and virtual, according to each lecturer's preferences. That makes it a little similar to last semester. Talking about our CA tests sir. Will they be mandatorily physical or blended physical and virtual as each lecturer would wish?

You know in this blended learning, the management provided room for lecturers to make their choice because of financial implication and this is because the university is not ready to bear all the cost, but they suggested blending learning but in my course (FSS204) I have a period online and offline because they are over 300 students offering the course. A reason why students are behaving the way they are behaving in relation to covid 19, is because majority of students have strong immunity even when they contract covid, most people don't know but because they have elderly ones teaching them, it is always safe to observe the protocol. The blending learning will ensure that the covid protocols is observed but in reference to exams online, the company UI contacted said they can handle it but they can't guarantee that all the results will be accurate. 

The arrangement is to prevent what we had in the previous session in the sense that students don't see their scores, some students have issues with results and these corrections are not made until final year, we also have students who aren't able to afford the use of Android phones and as such are not connected to the internet, we had more than 50 students applying for suspension of studies due to this issue, thanks to the Dean and FATSSSA who stepped in to help some students with fees but we can't just assume that all students will have access to the internet. This is one of the reasons why the institution advised a blended system of learning to reduce the cost and burden on both students and management. 

Is there something the faculty can do so as to enable students to see their test results before exam?

In fact, there was a resolution made by the Senate and there's a week set aside for finalization of tests but because of covid 19, this couldn't be implemented. Some students either did their tests as part of exam or submitted on exam day but the most important thing here is that there is no exam with ca test because the university system is programmed to take only complete results that is test, exam and total scores. It wasn't easy in the last semester and both the lecturers and students suffer in the last semester. But in all these, I commend the effort of students and lecturers in the new normal period. It is also safe to note that lectures end on the 22nd of September which leaves us with about 7 weeks but we still have lecturers who haven't started lectures yet.

Its the first time FATSSSA Press is formally interviewing you sir, since you became The SubDean of the Faculty, we share Congratulations sir!! 

Pls kindly share with us in general sir, how has it been combining your administrative job as SubDean with class lecturing as a whole, physically and online

It has affected some many things but I enjoy it because students FATSSSA and other bodies in the departments in the faculty have really been co-operative and I make sure that I fully interfere in what they do and right now, I am one of the signatories to the account, they can't take anything with informing me. I have to manage my time with meetings with students and the dean but in all I enjoy it but in all by next year July, I will be leaving.

We deeply appreciate the opportunity for this interview Sir. Thank you very much for your time

Thank you.