Alternative Student Congress

And so, our political leader will appear on the Mass Communication Students Association Television ( MASCOMSA TV) on the second segment of Let's Talk AMEU to weigh in on issues pertinent to ensuing general students election.

Kindly follow.

Last year the Alternative Student Congress, Team Mas and Team Yancy signed a MoU that lives on. The teams met again to recommit and strategize against anti-students leadership.

Team Yancy, Team Mas and the Alternative Students Congress met and reaffirmed commitment to the triune collaboration in the interest of students of AME University.

THEN AND NOW, AME UNIVERSITY COMPULSORY ONLINE LEARNING FUTILITY

For the second consecutive time the administration of AME University imposes online learning to the disadvantage of mass of its students. Though the university approaches the program with more elusiveness this time; the scheme lies bare to futility like the just completed online semester that denied over five hundred unprivileged students the completion of the semester aborted by Corona virus due to conditions still unresolved. Yet the administration is poised to begin another online program with the existing unresolved conditions. The endeavor is nothing but application of one methodology applied over and again in anticipation of different results which is unattainable but predestines the same fate each time the same thing is done repeatedly even with different tricks. If it failed the first try, it will inevitably dump the next. Such is the sinking shore AME University’s ‘Leave No One Behind’ accelerated online program stands.

More unfathomably, the ‘Leave No One Behind’ online program is touted as an opportunity for the leftover five hundred and more students who didn’t enroll the previous online program due to lack of smartphone, data, electricity and other unfortunate conditions to complete the aborted semester. The mind boggling curiosity is how will the still contestable five hundred twenty one students utilize the chance to complete the semester online when they still lack the basic necessities (smartphone, data etc.) for online classes? This time, will the university make available the means (basic necessities) for students to join the online program? To these inquiries the administration attends with the loudest taciturnity.

Preoccupies with surplus accumulation the administration is cleverly throwing a dash with six on all its four sides. It doesn’t matter which side of the dash hits the ground, the administration is the ultimate winner of this gamble.

To conceal the furtive motive of the Accelerated Online Program (AOP), the administration envelopes the students in smoke with the heralding of the mantra ‘Leave No One Behind’, but the same program left five hundred and twenty one students behind the last time. The online scheme left behind even its shadow to accommodate the leftover students. It will again leave many students behind due to lack of necessities for online learning. What then will the administration do with students that will undeniably leave behind again? Will it organize another online program again, again and again?

We will continue to urge AMEU authority to do itself favor and organize a special traditional vacation school for students without smartphone and necessities for online learning. Alternative special onsite vacation is the germane way out for unprivileged students to complete the 2019/2020 semester two.

At the other pole are students who enrolled the just ended online Google Classes but dropped either of lost or damaged phones or gadgets and other reasons. Students of these categories received ‘DR’ (dropped) or ‘I’ (incomplete) for dropping the last online semester. If these same students enroll again, for some reason drop what would be their fate? Is it another ‘DR’ or ‘I’?

As the AMEU's administration customarily imposes this policy on students, unabatedly, we will prod the university to allow students enroll the online classes at will considering their financial strength to shoulder the huge financial burden attached to the online studies.

Students with necessities for online classes can enroll the Accelerated Online Program, the administration can amass its surplus while unprivileged students without the basic online necessities have alternative to complete the semester through special traditional vacation school.

Both the administration and students have been affected by Corona pandemic. Policies to remedy problems caused by the pandemic must benefit both the administration and the students, even if some compromises must be made, it can not be at the detriment of the struggling students the university garner soared profit.

Abraham Africa Bellien Boimah, Chairman, Alternative Students Congress writes.