Plateau poly students protest exams postponement, block highway

Students of Plateau State Polytechnic on Monday trooped out in large numbers and blocked the Yakubu Gowon way, a major highway leading in and out of Jos, as they protested the postponement of their semester examinations by the school authorities.

The postponement of the examination was said to be as a result of an indefinite strike embarked upon by the lecturers of the institution.

The lecturers had issued a notice of strike to the government over they called its inability to meet their demands of earned allowances and other sundry issues.

NAN quoted one Miss Deborah John as saying the decision of the management to postpone the examination was an attempt to truncate their academic journey.

“We came to school this morning to start our examinations only to see a circular that our lecturers have been on strike since Friday.

“We were not informed; nobody said anything to us we just discovered that we cannot start our examinations.

“This is why we are protesting and it is a peaceful protest because all we want is go in and write our examinations.

“We have spent over three years in just one semester owing to Covid-19 lockdown, but largely due to the various strikes embarked upon by our lecturers.

“We keep paying for our accommodation, school fees, and other expenses. More so, we are getting old and by the time we graduate, we can’t find jobs of because of age,” John lamented.

Another student, Isreal Longdu, decried the incessant strike by their lecturers, adding that the development has stagnated their academic progression.

“Nobody has come to address us on the issue and we feel this is not right.“We demand a proper explanation from the management on why we cannot start our examinations today.“We are tired of this back and forth; our academic journey is suffering and this is not good for us,” he decried.

When contacted, Mr John Ramadan of the Public Relations Department of the institution, promised to furnish NAN with details on the strike soon.

NAN also reports that there was heavy presence of armed security personnel at the scene of the protest to forestall the breakdown of law and order.