Astute 1 0 A week of productivity or neglected workBy: Inna Hengari
Recently, in August, the University of Namibia had its week-long recess or ‘break’ as many may call it. While some students were thinking about and making plans to go home or travel somewhere for the short break, others were on a serious ‘grind’ trying to get that book that the lecturer had requested to be read, perhaps for a test or an assignment right after the recess.
University life is one of a kind, a combination of weird and strange personalities. As a student one is faced with many obstacles to overcome, academically and socially. On the academic side for instance, not only in Namibia I reckon, issues like shortage of staff (at University level), uncommitted lecturers who only show up for class lectures when they feel the need to, as well as short and unproductive class lessons, these are just some of the many challenges faced at tertiary level.
It is of vital importance that one understands the role that each ‘body’ (students, lecturers and the university management) play in a tertiary education setting. It is a three-way relationship really, where the University staff has an ethical responsibility to protect and represent the interests of students, in doing so, the students also have a responsibility and duty to attend their classes, consistently partaking in class discussions and doing whatever work is required of them by the respective lecturers and the rules of the respective University and the lecturers, who ‘bring to life’ the various policies of the University into the work-setting or in the lecture hall.
In addition, when and if the above is not carried out effectively, it often results in laying the burden on either one of these bodies. It should also be duly noted that any tertiary unit or organisation has a policy in which it recognises the students’ freedom of expression regarding complaints and that all students are able to express these concerns/complaints without fear of intimidation, whether it be about a lecturer who is always late for class lessons, fellow students who seem at times to be ‘enemies of progress’ or perhaps the most annoying; ‘no course outline, no notes scenario.
However, in cases especially where students share constant complaints about a certain schools within the university and/or its poor management, the respective staff members in most cases take offence and find it outright disrespectful that the student should express such views or opinions openly. But, what one should know is that, the more complaints from different parties or persons about how things are done in a certain school or faculty, the more effort one should put towards improving the manner and method in which certain things are done.
Sometimes we are quick to judge and criticise how specific state affairs are run and how certain economic and political issues in the country are being handled, or about others’ work, but, we barely look at our own work, to pour scorn on and see how we can plan certain things differently to produce different results – to avoid recurring issues.
It is, simply put “insanity” to be doing something in the same way over and over again and then to expect different results. It is my personal wish and hope that one day we can all come to understand that a tertiary institution cannot function properly, unless all of us in the tertiary institution acknowledge the fact that we’re not each other’s enemies but we are ‘units’ expected to carry out our respective functions correctly which should at the end of the day, positively complement each other – towards better performance and a ‘happy’ educative environment. It is then safe to ask, what have you done in this past week? Has it been productive? Or, have you failed to plan once more, because “failure to plan is planning to fail”.
*Inna Hengari is second year student studying towards a Bachelor of Public Management (Honours) at the University of Namibia.