How Lecturer sent students out of class for not buying textbooks

A lecturer taking a course titled Poetry in Yoruba Language (YOR 303) sent some 300-Level students out of the class for their failure to buy four textbooks.

It was not a good morning for some students of the Faculty of Arts of the Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU) in Ile-Ife, Osun State, last Monday, according to the report by Nation Newspapers.

The lecturer, Dr Benard, of the Department of Linguistics and African Languages, barred defaulting students from attending her lecture because they could not afford to buy the selected textbooks of anthologies of Yoruba poetry, which cost N1,700.

The lecturer’s action contravened a directive by the Federal Ministry of Education, barring teaching staff of public tertiary institutions from forcing students to buy textbooks and handouts.

To punish the defaulters, Dr Benard conducted a continuous assessment test for a few students who bought the textbooks.

The lecturer’s decision caused discontent among students, who queried the lecturer’s decision to bar them from attending the lecture.

A student, who spoke under the anonymity condition for fear of being victimised, said: “There is need to educate Dr Benard that this is OAU, where lecturers don’t force students to buy books. Dr Benard is laying too much emphasis on those textbooks as if she authored them. The punishment is unfair to us, because we are not required to buy textbooks.”

Another student, who pleaded for anonymity, said: “Since I have been admitted into OAU, this is the first course I would see a lecturer sending students out of the class because of textbooks. I don’t understand, because I know OAU does not force students to buy reading materials or textbooks.”

CAMPUSLIFE gathered that Dr Benard, from the outset, promised to punish students who failed to buy the four textbooks.

The fate of defaulting students could not be ascertained as at the time of filing in this report. There was no indication the lecturer would conduct a make-up test for the affected students.