The Roots of Student Unrest in African Universities
CHAPTER ONE:
1.1. Introduction
The current search for excellence in higher education in Nigeria has concentrated primarily on institutional issues such as input resources, rapid expansion of higher education, managerial and allocative efficiency, programme relevance, and output mix in terms of students’ employability, research, and service. lndeed, overwhelming evidence suggests that there has been a dramatic decline in the quality of higher education and in die general performance of institutions of higher-learning in the last decade. Solutions being articulated include improvement in funding, management, revamping of die curriculum and retention of quality teaching staff. However, the broader issues of the social context of higher education, especially the social role and the qualitative impact of students and faculty protest in the improvement of the climate in the delivery of quality higher education has not been adequately addressed. The phenomenon of student unrest has persisted since the inauguration of universities in the early 1960s and has defied ideological boundaries and university site, such that each year resources are wasted due to recurrent cessation of teaching and learning, which sometimes results in the closure of universities. Yet not much has been done to locate the phenomenon in its historical and social contexts with a view to evaluating its merits and demerits. And unfortunately, student unrest has been conceived and portrayed mostly as a negative and disruptive process. As Peter and Mvungi (1986) asserts “little attention is given to its importance in the democratic transformation of the society and qualitative improvements in higher education, except in the broad context of the class struggle”. Meaning of Student Unrest Students’ unrest is the indiscipline shown by students. It is shown in schools in the form of riots, demonstrations, protests, boycotts, harassments, and cultism. it is becoming a disturbing trend in the economy’s
1.1. Introduction
The current search for excellence in higher education in Nigeria has concentrated primarily on institutional issues such as input resources, rapid expansion of higher education, managerial and allocative efficiency, programme relevance, and output mix in terms of students’ employability, research, and service. lndeed, overwhelming evidence suggests that there has been a dramatic decline in the quality of higher education and in die general performance of institutions of higher-learning in the last decade. Solutions being articulated include improvement in funding, management, revamping of die curriculum and retention of quality teaching staff. However, the broader issues of the social context of higher education, especially the social role and the qualitative impact of students and faculty protest in the improvement of the climate in the delivery of quality higher education has not been adequately addressed. The phenomenon of student unrest has persisted since the inauguration of universities in the early 1960s and has defied ideological boundaries and university site, such that each year resources are wasted due to recurrent cessation of teaching and learning, which sometimes results in the closure of universities. Yet not much has been done to locate the phenomenon in its historical and social contexts with a view to evaluating its merits and demerits. And unfortunately, student unrest has been conceived and portrayed mostly as a negative and disruptive process. As Peter and Mvungi (1986) asserts “little attention is given to its importance in the democratic transformation of the society and qualitative improvements in higher education, except in the broad context of the class struggle”. Meaning of Student Unrest Students’ unrest is the indiscipline shown by students. It is shown in schools in the form of riots, demonstrations, protests, boycotts, harassments, and cultism. it is becoming a disturbing trend in the economy’s