Today, I do not know whether I should be sad or scared or angry. Believe me, it is more painful when you cannot determine how to feel as a result of the things going on around you.
When I woke up today, little did I know that it would turn out to become a frustrating one for me. It happened that my final year results were released last week, Friday to be precise. Even though I did well in my papers, I still was not satisfied with a grade I got in a particular course. I had been expecting an A in that course, but I got a B instead. While I am not totally obsessed with grades, I think I deserved better than a B because I really put in a lot of work in that course as I was the group leader of the final year assignment we did in that course. After a while of brooding and choosing to see the positive side of it, I got over it and let the whole issue die down so I could enjoy the weekend.
Today, my class representative sent us all a document of the list of students' names who have passed and do not have an outstanding course. This list is to be forwarded to the National Youth Service Corp (NYSC) for the mobilisation of fresh graduates. Alas, I checked over and over again but I couldn't find my name on the list. What could have been the reason? I have never failed a course all through my years of study in the university.
When I eventually found my name, it was among the names of those who failed some courses and will have to sit for them again before they can graduate. Then I remembered, something like that happened at the beginning of my third year. We had been on holiday when the pass list was released and a particular course had been marked as outstanding for me. That very day, I left home and went down to school to file a complaint at the office of my department.
There, I found fellow classmates of mine who had come for the same reason. A number of us had the same issue with that particular course. The head of the department ordered the departmental secretary to verify our claims by looking for our results. In no time, the secretary brought the results. It was there, we did write the exam and passed that course. The head of the department apologised to us, saying it must have been a typographical error. We were asked to put down our names and matric numbers so that the issue would be resolved. That we did, promptly. I even suggested that the course representative be called upon whenever the list had been recompiled and edited so as to be sure of the corrections, but my departmental head assured me that there was no need for that.
However, today, I was shocked, devastated and heartbroken to find that nothing was done about it that year. This is because the new pass list that I checked this morning still had the same error as before. It was still the same course that was erroneously marked as outstanding for me and others. Anyway, I have gone to my department today to complain about it again. I met another classmate of mine who also has the same issue. We've been told to check back tomorrow. I have been weighed down all day. In fact, I've not been able to eat all day because I'd lost my appetite for food since I saw the list in the morning.
While I hope that the issue will be rectified tomorrow, I cannot help but feel sad and disgusted at the gross misconduct and unprofessionalism in my country's educational system. There's this friend of mine who graduated from the same school but a different department two years ago. Till now, she hasn't been mobilised for NYSC because of an error like this. Last month, I read a post of hers on Facebook where she talked about how she had been going helter-skelter about the issue when it happened, but it still didn't get solved. Now she's been delayed for two good years after graduation. It's really sad and heartbreaking!
Oh my. That's negligence and incompetence in one. I hope this time the right thing will be done. You really should insist to see that it is done right to avoid the same mistake or else you might end up like your friend waiting for two years.