In October 2002, we started our march in medical education with the commencement of academic programmes in MBBS. As of that time, there were roughly 600 of us in the class.
In October 2002, we started our march in medical education with the commencement of academic programmes in MBBS. As of that time, there were roughly 600 of us in the class.
Our respective admission letters read that the medical programme would last only six years. As of October 2010, we had spent eight years in the medical school of Igbinedion University Okada and had paid school fees eight times.
• PREAMBLE
• BATCHING SYSTEM
• FINAL MBBS EXAMINATIONS
• WITHDRAWAL OF ACCREDITATION
• RESIT EXAMINATIONS
• MDCN STAND
• SCHOOL FEES AND STUDENT PROTESTS
• UNIVERSITY AUTHORITY-PARENTS MEETING
• CONCLUSION
PREAMBLE
In October 2002, we started our march in medical education with the commencement of academic programmes in MBBS. As of that time, there were roughly 600 of us in the class.
Our respective admission letters read that the medical programme would last only six years. As of October 2010, we had spent eight years in the medical school of Igbinedion University Okada and had paid school fees eight times.
BATCHING SYSTEM
The batching system was instituted with our entry into clinical medicine in 2006. The plan was to systematically arrange our class into more manageable units with the aim of enhancing better learning in the clinical experience. Thus our class was batched into three batches of ‘A’ ‘B’ and ‘C’ with a minimum population of 75 students per batch. It came with the understanding that ALL three batches would be graduated in the same year within a space of three months between each batch. Furthermore, the exams of the batches would overlap in that the resit of batch ‘B’ for example, would be the first attempt examination of batch C. It must be noted that all this was official from our university authority.
FINAL MBBS EXAMINATIONS
We concluded our final MBBS examinations on the 27th of July 2010. The clinical exams were held at the University of Benin teaching hospital (UBTH) based on the fact that there was an ongoing industrial strike action by the health workers union at the state hospital (central hospital Benin) we use for our clinical medicine. Our exam results were released a few weeks thereafter. 17 of us passed the exam on first sitting while 33 of us had resits in respective departments. The 17 were inducted on the 27th of September 2010 by the medical and dental council of Nigeria (MDCN). We understand that as a rule and practice, resit exams are meant to take place not later than ninety days after the release of results. It must be recalled that all this while we had completed our clinical postings and exams, and results were released before the withdrawal of accreditation.
WITHDRAWAL OF ACCREDITATION
On the 23rd of August 2010, we woke up to the shocking news of the withdrawal of accreditation of our medical school by the medical and dental council of Nigeria (MDCN). The letter to this effect with reference number MDCN/713/VOL.II/123 of 17th August 2010 was published in several national dailies. Copies of the publication are available on request.
RESIT EXAMINATIONS
As a consequence of the batching system already mentioned above, our resit exams were meant to be conducted with our colleagues in batch C. A time table had been brought out and all was set for the resit exams. To our amazement, on the morning of the exams, without any official pronouncement the exams were postponed indefinitely purportedly as an action taken by the university authorities on a letter written by our batch C colleagues asking for an indefinite postponement of the exams. We rejected the development and wrote a series of letters in the ensuing weeks respectfully demanding that our resit exams be conducted for us.
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The fear among a segment of our colleagues was that with the withdrawal of accreditation our status would be uncertain. However we were assured by some of our seasoned lecturers and professors that we would not be affected by the withdrawal of accreditation as our lectures, postings and exams were concluded before the unfortunate withdrawal of accreditation. In addition, we asked the rhetorical question; if there was no batching system wouldn’t there be a resit examination for us?
In a meeting with the Vice Chancellor, he informed us that the best time he believed we should write our exams would be in January 2011. He did not give us any concrete reasons for that. We respectfully obliged and left for a meeting with the dean of our college who was just appointed a day earlier.
At a meeting with the dean of clinical medicine and with the provost of the college of medicine in attendance, we were informed that we would be obliged to pay the recently increased school fees. That would mean we would be paying for the NINTH time for a course of six years and (thus only six school fees). Naturally we were shocked to our spines by the announcement and sought to understand with every logical thought how and why we as resit students should be asked to pay for a new session we would not be taking part in. Besides it was in no way any fault of ours that the resit exams were not conducted when due.
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What is more unfair about the matter is that in the college of pharmacy where accreditation has been withdrawn for about two years now, they have not been asked to pay any additional school fees. Our case as resit students is more remarkable.
We wish to mention that we have tried on countless occasions to convince the university authorities from the college level to the level of management to permit us to write the resit exams. Evidently, all of such efforts fell on deaf ears.
MDCN STAND
As a result of the confusion over our status with the medical and dental council of Nigeria (MDCN), we decided to write and visit the council in Abuja. There we were informed that with the withdrawal of accreditation, all academic activities were to seize at the university BUT that our case was peculiar and that it was up to the university to present our case to the council. We have reiterated this position many times to our university authorities yet as of press time there has been no evidence that our resit exams would be conducted for us. Weeks after the accreditation was withdrawn, there were promises that accreditation would ‘return’ ‘in a matter of weeks’. Later on the date of the ‘return’ was shifted to December. As of today, the 3rd of march 2011, accreditation had not been returned to the university.
SCHOOL FEES AND STUDENT PROTESTS
With no evidence of efforts towards the return of accreditation, the university authorities callously informed students of the medical college of the need to urgently pay the newly increased school fees including infact those of us writing resit exams. This would mean students would be paying the 7th, 8th and 9th school fees respectively for a six year course. Students were infuriated and made threats to disrupt the upcoming convocation ceremony of the university at Okada town. In an attempt to avert that, series of meetings were held between students of the university and the management team including the chancellor, deputy chancellor and pro-chancellor of the university. The meetings were unsuccessful and on the two days of the convocation on the 26th and 27th of November 2010, medical students of Igbinedion University disrupted the convocation ceremony of the university. The action was seriously embarrassing to the university and a curious list of 22 students was drawn up to face a disciplinary committee. (Curious because some of the purported ‘participants’ were at home when the protest occurred. None of our colleagues/classmates were on that list)
The medical school was temporarily closed down as announced by the university.
A series of meetings were held between the university and student (class) leaders following the unrest on the convocation. A certain group of parents from Lagos have also been at the forefront of meeting where decisions have been taken without particular consideration for those of us in the resit class.
What is more unfortunate is that our classmates who were inducted in September last year have since been engaging in their house jobs at various hospitals around the country.
CONCLUSION
All that has been said above is an attempt to summarize our ordeal for the past few months. A matter as simple as organizing resit exams for us has turned into a monumental disaster.
Just two weeks ago, a circular was passed by the University authorities asking us to resume and prepare for our final examinations (the delayed resit exams). However that resumption has been tied to us paying the full fees of 713,800 naira for the 2010/2011 session. We believe this decision is totally unjust, unfair and immoral. We were due for resit examinations in October last year before the current session; we were denied the examination. Knowing fully well that a controversy over the fees would arise we wrote countless letters to the University authority demanding for the resit examinations. Yet again, we were turned down sometimes on the excuse that there was no accreditation for the medical school. As of press time, the accreditation has not been returned and we are being asked to pay full school fees for no fault of ours.
Where are our parents to get such a colossal amount of funds from? Funds that were totally unplanned for. And all this for no fault of ours whatsoever. We have called on the authorities to intervene on the matter, sadly all our pleas have fallen on deaf ears so far.
All we are asking for is justice and fairness from the authorities.
Thanking you in anticipation.
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