Students of the Plateau State Polytechnic (PSP) have taken to the streets of Jos to protest after their semester exams were postponed.
According to NAN, the students took to the streets on Monday and blocked the Yakubu Gowon Way, a major road leading into and out of the state’s capital city.
There had been reports that the postponed semester exams were due to an indefinite strike embarked upon by the lecturers of the institution.
The lecturers had issued a notice of strike to the government over what they described as its inability to meet their demands of earned allowances and other sundry issues.
Speaking on the development, Deborah John, a student of the polytechnic, described the decision of the management to postpone the exam as an attempt to truncate their academic journey.
“We came to school this morning to start our examinations only to see a circular that our lecturers have been on strike since Friday,” she said.
“We were not informed; nobody said anything to us we just discovered that we cannot start our examinations.
“This is why we are protesting and it is a peaceful protest because all we want is to go in and write our exams.
“We have spent over three years in just one semester owing to COVID-19 lockdown, but largely due to the various strikes embarked upon by our lecturers.
“We keep paying for our accommodation, school fees, and other expenses. More so, we are getting old and by the time we graduate, we can’t find jobs because of age.”
Another student who identified as Isreal Longdu decried the incessant strike by their lecturers.
He added that the development has stagnated their academic progression.
“Nobody has come to address us on the issue and we feel this is not right,” Longdu said.
“We demand a proper explanation from the management on why we cannot start our examinations today.
“We are tired of this back and forth; our academic journey is suffering and this is not good for us.”
It is understood that there was a heavy presence of armed security personnel at the scene of the protest to forestall the breakdown of law and order.
The strike comes a few days after students at the University of Benin (UNIBEN) similarly protested a momentary increase in their tuition fees.
As of when this report was filed, the polytechnic had yet to publicly address the issue.
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