Amid ASUU strike, VC canvasses virtual learning

Youths urge immediate end to impasse

Vice Chancellor of University of Abuja (UNIABUJA), Prof Abdul- Rasheed Na’Allah, has urged learning institutions across the federation to embrace virtual classroom system, stressing that strikes by lecturers should not deter universities from carrying out their duties.

Speaking against the backdrop of incessant industrial actions by the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), Na’Allah, who admitted that the current one was real and effective, insisted that the ivory towers must continue to run.

According to him, the UNIABUJA’s integrated portal, which houses vital information of undergraduates, is a virtual classroom system where the students have been receiving lectures since the strike began.

He said: “ASUU strike does not mean school activities should not continue. What we did was to look for adjunct staff, who are part-time and not members of ASUU. We carried them along while developing the virtual classroom.”

IN a similar vein, Nigerian youths, under the auspices of Youngstars Development Initiative, have urged the Federal Government to immediately meet demands of the striking university teachers for students to return to class.

The group’s Executive Director, Kingsley Bangwell, during a town hall meeting at the weekend in Abuja, insisted that it was a moral responsibility of government to ensure that students were in school always.

His words: “End ASUU strike today, not tomorrow. Do whatever you need to do to end that strike.

“It is a moral responsibility of government to ensure that students are in school as and when due.”