Allexer Namundjembo
Leaders of different student unions have blamed UNAM for letting students write their final examinations without knowing if they have qualified for them or not.
This follows an incident last week during which a male student held his lecturer at gunpoint and demanded that the lecturer change his marks.
According to Natangwe Shikesho, the president of the Student Union of Namibia, UNAM has recklessly permitted students to take exams without verifying their eligibility.
“We regret the unfortunate situation, and we do encourage students to follow the right procedures to resolve the matter. However, this is a testimony of a weak university administration structure that does not care to resolve students’ predicaments amicably and on time,” Shikesho said.
He added that students have voiced their complaints about staff members who are merely playing games on their desktop computers rather than providing them with assistance.
“We call for strengthening of mental health care services to address mental health matters, to avoid incidents like this to occur again,” he added.
Muzani Muzani, the spokesperson for the National Africa Students Association (NASA), urged the university to introduce tight security measures at its gates.
He stated that since the issue of marks is causing depression in students, the university should ensure that lecturers and other staff respond to students’ queries within 48 hours.
Additionally, there must be proper coordination between students and the university staff to prevent incidents like this.
“The examination officer must also introduce a manual recording of results or should have a file to check or confirm eligibility,” Muzani said.
He said the University of Namibia caused the incident, but the association doesn’t support the student’s action.
“The university has one issue to solve, and that is the issue of marks disappearing from the kiosk. It really disturbs students,” he added.
Stress must have fueled the incident, according to Junias Haufiku, the NANSO secretary for higher education.
He stated that the majority of students experience stress upon discovering they would be losing their NSFAF loans.
“Most students are stressed, especially during exams, so UNAM must also come up with strict measures to detect weapons at the gates of the campuses. The institution must also care about a student’s mental health,” he said.
The Affirmative Repositioning’s Student Command has described the incident as a testimony to the degeneration of the once glorious institution that they have been talking about.
Gillian Kalf, the spokesperson for the command, added that despite UNAM’s dedication to maintaining academic excellence and the university’s top ranking in surveys, the general administrative operations of the university are subpar.
“The reaction of that particular student reflects the overall frustration students are experiencing during their time at the university. Students, who find themselves in difficult academic situations, struggle to overcome it or to deal with stress,” she said.
Kalf added that both students and staff members are immediate stakeholders of the university, and therefore the university should have systematic measures in place to safeguard the security and study environments.
