Students’ protest at Benue State University

Sir: Recently, the students at Benue State University Makurdi registered their anger through a protest over a grading system that has been upgraded from five points to four points grading where the third class level of a degree won’t longer be recognised.

The protest led to the temporary closure of the university with immediate effect, pending the final decision of the university management on the issue. I am yet to see anything wrong with the four points grading adopted by the university. Many people now patronise certain universities because of their standard.

The standard of a university is what produces quality education, the standard of a university is what keeps the university going, the standard of a university is what earns such a university awards among other universities, the standard of a university is what produces sound students, the standard of a university is what makes her students study hard in order to meet up with the standard, the standard of a university is what distinguishes such a university from others and so on.

An initial standard, upon which a university was built, can be upgraded from time to time to embrace new ideas and improve on an aging standard that is no longer active and competitive in the education sector. However, if Benue State University has chosen to upgrade her standard thereby graduating from five points grading to four points grading, so be it and there is nothing wrong with that. Students of the university in question should adapt to the new change because it will elevate them and the university in general.

Therefore, I would advise the university management to sensitise students on the issue of four points grading and set a date for its commencement to prevent further and unnecessary protests. I support four points of grading.

Awunah Pius Terwase wrote from Mpape, Abuja.