LAGOS APRIL 26TH (URHOBOTODAY)-The Delta State Polytechnic, Otefe, Oghara was on Friday shut down by the school management following a serious unrest which began around 8.20am. Elombah.com visited the school and gathered that the students were protesting against the management for stopping them from writing exams. Sources within the school told our correspondent that the management had earlier wrote several memos to the students to pay their fees, else they would be denied entry into the exam halls.
Speaking to some Press men, whom Elombah.com met on the campus, the Rector, Dr Clara Sogbaike noted that the students pay only minor fees while tuition fee is free. She stated that the school management has given them instruction to pay their fees since January, but some of them remained adamant. Those who had not paid their fees we gathered went into the exam halls and disrupted those writing their exams.
The protest attracted men from the Nigerian Army, Police and the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Service Corps (NSCDC), but all seem powerless before the students who destroyed Mercedes Benz V-Boot belonging to the community Divisional Police Officer (DPO) as well as several vehicles. The school buildings and properties were also vandalized by the protesting students.
The Commissioner for Higher Education, Prof. Hope Eghagha who spoke to our reporter on phone noted that the State government is in support of the school management to stop defaulting students from writing exams. “If they don’t pay the fees, how do we run the school”, he asked.
Speaking to Elombah.com, the Students blamed the Rector for not acting like a mother but using force to achieve their aims. They accuse her of exploiting them; by bring fees which are not relevant, such as games and computers when they don’t truly have access to such facilities. We gathered that despite all the plea of the Students Union Government (SUG), the management stood their ground on ‘No fees, no Exams’
Source: ELOMBAH