Last post covered the general state of education in Africa and the effect of low standard of living coupled with corruption and how it affects its education.
In today's post however, we will have focus and talk about what really happens in the Universities in Africa. It is a hassle to get admitted into the University especially in Africa. Apart from poor governance in many African nations, there is abject corruption infused into the University system. Well, it is called politics!
Basically, you are more guaranteed a place in the University if you have social connections to top people in the society or with top people in the school. Else, you will need huge sums of money, to buy your admission.
In many schools, even academic excellence not longer counts that much; you still need to put hand in pocket and education is practically a business venture.
Now assuming you finally get admitted into the University, what next? Hahaha, it is only a matter of time and things get clearer; you will likely be having to buy your certificates!
Imagine reading all the books in preparation for your next exam, only to go to the exam hall and find out that you have been given 30 minutes to do a test, that normally has a duration of 1 hour 30 minutes examination; "well everyone in the class fails!"
There are solutions tho and you find this out, when the lecturer sends in a spokesperson in the form of his appointment class captain: "Okay, everyone will have to pay 20 $ to get 30 points and to get an additional 20 points, you have to buy my handbook". In a class of 200 students, this is so much money in the lecturer's pocket and oh, there are many lecturers doing this!
Now, the above is very popular in many Universities in Africa!
But wait till the girls tell you their experiences; "oh don't be all curvy and pretty"! In some schools, pretty girls simply have no rest as lecturer after lecturer, makes sleeping with these girls one of the compulsory subjects/courses.
Well, many of the girls lived there University years, drowned in this ever-present fear that they aren't victims of these hunting lecturers because there is basically a huge network of these lecturers and you really can't tell who is not in the web. The deal is: some of these girls; have this put before them:
You can't graduate, if i don't have my way!
And gosh, it gets worse because for some girls who give in and think it is over; "oh there is a huge network of lecturers who want to do the same because the funny thing is, these lecturers discuss their escapades among one another!
Before long, some girls find themselves in a huge web of mess; dying in silence!
Some girls though, have to try to raise huge mouth-watering sums of money to settle this network of lecturers and this comes with its own years of anxiety.
Finally, graduation comes and many of these new graduates are more celebratory of the fact that they have left their cages unknown to many! Yes, many of these students went through extra torture combined with the hassle schooling in Africa brings! Students that escaped the general corruption in schools, still manage to come out half-baked because of low standard of education in general!
One things is quite certain though, many of these youths don't quite. They hustle their way still and many Africans have turn out to be renown scholars both in Africa and in other nations round the world and this is definitely something to admire!
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Wow that is so unfair, there must be someway to let the women have full access to education without having to sleep with lecturers. Its a complete abuse of power.
Yes but it tends to say secret for so long and once it becomes a norm the barriers are less. Not everyone has to face this but my sisters have. In her case, it came late during graduation and she was able to pay a huge amount once to be let to graduate without being touched!
Since a lot of people are finding out that college isn't what it has been advertised, it would seem that instead of wasting money to go to a physical college, the money would be best spent getting the best Internet access and learning from there.
I don't know a lot about Africa, but I would think that it would be an entrepreneur paradise. Just having a small bit of knowledge to bring a wanted/needed service to a country that might not know about it, would make one very rich. Of course, I would guess there would still be many hands to grease and other dangers of having the knowledge.
Indeed it is an enterpreneur paradise. The things you mentioned is becoming possible. Although there are still barriers but it will get better! Rich people in Africa send their kids abroad!
Education in Romania: used as political weapon instead of understanding that long term prosperity comes from education. That is sad..
Yes similar case in Africa. With recent posts, it has become obvious that many countries outside the African continent suffer similar issues!
Nice article i must say, yes most of the things you metiond exist in Africa. But there are a lot of brilliant student in Africa only that this challenges you mentions is ftustrating them not to give in their best. But they leave their continet, you will see them coming first in everything. There an equall opportunity was given to all with fear or favour. Imagine finishing preparing for exams for months and your give 30 minutes to write your exam why because the lecturer want you to fail so that you can come and sort him or her. Is so sad. Nice one keep it up
Excel, Africans excel in other nations! Some people manage to escape this experiences but overall the educational system in many African nations is poor!
Everything you wrote is true from my experience in an African university.... Although you fail to mention the few bright spots in the system...
Some of the rare victims actually paved the way to their own failures ...
Overall though the educational system in Nigeria is fucked up...