Makerere University freedom square
The current situation whereby lecturers are still laying down their tools of work at Makerere University saddens me. Obviously not surprising but I never understand why the script does not change.
It is the same boring story of all these so called learned persons (I would like to believe they are) bickering every other time. I have always thought the leaders at the great university acted selfishly.
The uncountable strikes by lecturers can only mean that there is one loser, the student which also makes me wonder who is really in charge of Makerere University.
It is like the only institution I know where the vice chancellor gets bullied around by many internal pressure groups and eventually looks clueless.
Certainly, the problems are many and you cannot exhaust them all. Just when you think the university is functional and back to its groove, the same issues pop up. Why only Makerere though? Aren’t there other universities in Uganda that face problems?
Why is it that it is only Makerere that never solves some of these issues? It is no secret that Makerere has lost some of its glory but I am sure there can be some sanity restored. I do not understand how all these professors cannot sit down soberly and come up with solutions moving forward.
My sister, a First Year Statistics student at Makerere University has not had lectures in almost a month and she is puzzled. I am sure she is not alone as some lecturers refuse to go back into classrooms citing the standoff between the university’s administration and the academic staff. For parents, I can almost imagine the level of disgust.
Despite the university’s name being dragged in the mud over the last few years, many parents still maintain a grain of hope that the university will one day be great again.
For them to see all this drama play out before their eyes kills them. Many of them have already adjusted to some stringent tuition policies set by the university leadership rather painfully.
The hustle is real on the streets and even after they put some resources together, they have to contend with their child sitting at home because some egoistic professors cannot resolve their beef.
I cannot be utterly blind to the fact that lecturers have sometimes been unfairly treated in the past with delayed salaries and calls for improved salaries falling on dead ears.
This, however, should not turn you into rebels. For a calling as noble as teaching, I am sure you can be more understandable and try to do your job even when faced by adversity.
Make your concerns heard, but teach. Please teach. The children should not suffer for a few quarrels at the dining table.
