Where do missing marks go?

The missing marks are a common phenomenon among all public Kenyan Universities. The speech of Professor Jacob Kaimenyi on 5^th November 2014 in a forum with the heads of universities of Kenya universities discussing on students Unrest revealed that one of the causes of student’s unrest and strikes is the missing marks. The big question is where do the missing marks go?

 After students have done the exams they submit their answer sheets to the invigilators who submit them to the lecturers of the course who mark them. The lecturers mark the exams and record them then return the exams to the examination department. At times lecturers mix up the papers and some of them are very poor record keepers who end up not recording other student’s marks. Other students forget to write their admission numbers on the answer sheets or they write them in an unclear manner that they cannot be read. Those who realize they have a missing mark make a follow up early on their missing marks. However it’s not easy to get the missing mark recorded because even locating the lecturer who taught you the course is a big problem. You are likely to be told the lecturer went to study abroad, the lecturer is not available, and they are temporarily out of the country to attend an international meeting and other such excuses. Lazy students will lose the morale to make follow up on the missing marks until the graduation is around.    Before graduating students are given a chance to confirm their names are correctly written and their marks are recorded well in all the exams that they sat throughout their study period. This is the time when others realize that they have a missing mark. The period is long enough to allow for the students to look up for the lecturers who taught them the course, the lucky ones find their answer sheets and their problems are sorted before they graduate. The unlucky ones have to wait for another academic year and seat for the exam. This leads to delayed graduation and realization of students dreams.

The issue of missing marks is an all round responsibility. The student and the lecturers should be involved in ensuring that the marks are recorded appropriately and whenever the student miss their marks they should make a follow up as early as possible. 

A we in Hell?

A walk along the academic highway makes one feel like they are walking in some kind of place called the land of hopelessness. The hot sun makes one feel like they are in hell, the dry flower beds makes one think is like the world has come to an end as predicted in the bible, the dry grass makes one feel like they are in the western Sahara Desert, strong wind blowing with a lot of dust makes one feel like they are in Nothern Kalahari desert. This is the kind of feeling that comes with the month of March. This is the time when most people will prefer to stay in their rooms and wait for the day to end instead of walking around the institution in all that hot sun.

Dry grass at Moi University Football playground

Life in the stage residential hostels makes one feel the smell of Satan on earth. Water shortage is a serious crisis where people have to compete for the limited available water. People have to wake up very early to tap water for their domestic use. The earlier the better, because nobody cares about the other persons. When will this season really come to an end?

Do we learn from mistakes?

One of the notable things that you are likely to observe in any room in the hostels is the series of naked wire connection whose operation is only understood by the room occupants. It’s only in Moi University where the students have control over the kind of life that they stay in the hostels. Cooking using coils and other electric appliances is a common phenomenon in all hostels in Moi University. The electricity is the main source of power for preparing meals. Last year a room in Hostel M was burnt down to ashes because of an electric connection problem in the name of connection cooking beans in the room. That was not the first time that the incidence happened. After that people were sensitized in different forums about electric connection in their rooms. The big question is; do we learn from mistakes?

electric cables connecting cooking coil hanging from ceiling board in hostel

My walk in one of the hostels confirms my doubts that students never learn from mistakes.  A series of electric connection is the first thing that my eyes could see. There is a rule about the illegal cooking and illegal electric connections s, but does this law really apply? When I talked to David, one of the room occupants he said, “The rule against illegal cooking and illegal connection is only applied when a student is in a serious problem in regard to room maintenance.”

When there are blackouts the students blame the university administrators, the university administrators blame the university hostel administration, the university hostel administration blames the students, and it’s all a series of blame game. The big question is who is really to be blamed?

Lecturer Class Absenteeism

Class Attendances

One of the characteristics of a university is the fact that one can decide to come to class or not to come. However this rule is trick as one is required to maintain at least a 20% class attendance as a student. The big question is, are the same rules applied to the lecturers?

It’s a common practice in Moi University for classes to bounce. The big question is when the students will get the knowledge if at all the classes are not attended. According to a report by UNESCO, Kenyan Universities are among the category of the poorest universities in Africa. Moi University is ranked number 17. Is very common practice for students to attend a class and a lecturer does not show up. It’s a clear show of irresponsibility from the trainers as their major duty is to train the students something which they do hurriedly after missing a series of classes. Joseph Juma, a third year student in the school of education said, “ When I was in first year I had a target of a first class but as by now there are no any hopes of first class honors degree. The lectures have contributed to my failure because of poor class attendances.”

Somebody somewhere is sleeping on their job. Should the students form a monitoring body dealing with class attendances? if so what action can students take against lecturers who fail to come to class?

Class Venue Crisis

It was a total confusion today at 2 pm when the third yearmedia students and the second year students had a dispute over a class venue.

The two classes had confusion over the class venue. The third year students had been using the launch class since the semester started. The second year alleged that they were allocated the class but had not been holding it there because their lecturer Brian, had gone abroad for studies. The lecturer came back and was allocated a different class which they had been using. Today they were sitting for a CAT and they wanted a larger space to use for the CAT. The third year media students who were the first occupants claimed that the class was allocated to them and they won’t get out, “we can’t go out this is the class we have been using since the semester started”, said Mubaruq, a third year media student. It took the intervention of the lecturers to negotiate for the class allocation and later the second years were relocated to another class.

Venue confusion is a common crisis in the school of information science given the fact that the number of available classes cannot carry all the students fully. Under several circumstances class venues have been an issue and the end result is negotiation among the lectures. The feeling of superiority among the third years can be expressed by their desire to occupy any class they want. Up to when will this crisis end? 

Do You Run A Business?

Kibanda at stage

The first thing that one is most likely to see when they reach at stage is the number of small shops that are set with different items ranging from food to electronics. The number of people opening up shops is very high compared to the number of shops that were there about two years ago. Shops engaging in selling different types of goods have increased. Groceries and electronic vibandas are at a high rise. From an economic perspective it indicates a high rise in the number of students who have increased year in year out. When people complain about the lack of hostels space to accommodate the students, the mama vibandas at stage are very happy because they know the higher the number of students the higher the sales that they make.

Business is business and one of the strong points is that when observing the owners of the businesses most of them are owned by the students. Students are engaging in different activities that can give them extra cash. When the government is seriously encouraging the youth to engage in small businesses the students at Moi University are already engaging in the businesses. One mama mboga said, “I do not own a kibanda but am employed by a third year student to run his business.” this one tells us of the spirit of the entrepreneurship among the students in main campus. The big question is do you run any business?  

Selfies

The number of selfies among the students of informationscience has gone very high.

IS third year students posing for a photo session

Observing the current trend in the school of information science the number of students who are taking photos is rising high compared to the previous years. The influence of the smart phones has led to the habit of people taking photos everywhere they go. At least in the school of information science the photos are taken every hour of the day. The third years are leading because they have realized that they are almost leaving school and they need those photos for their memoirs.  The information science school is the most beautiful school in the whole institution and given the fact that it is located next to the library the school compound is ever smart. Several students from other schools often come to the school to take selfies.

IS third year students posing for a photo session

Nobody knows when the trend will end given the fact of the emerging technologies. The increased number of smart phones with higher resolution ability can by itself prompt one to take a selfie. Nowadays phone cameras do not need a second person to take a photo. Unlike I the past the photo industry has real revolved and has become very cheap. Several people especially students do not print the photos but instead keep them in digital format.

Media Council of Kenya Workshop

Moi University media Students attend a Media Council of Kenya workshop held at Hotel Comfy in Eldoret town.

Moi University Media students waiting for start of the Media Council Session

The workshop hosted by the media council was attended by students and invited members of the public from Uasin Gishu County. Among those in attendance was Pamela, the president of Kenya maendeleo ya wanawake. The workshop discussed the need for the media to engage in efforts of fighting negative ethnicity in Kenya. Amos Kibet, a Media Council of Kenya commissioner said “the proliferation of the vernacular language radio stations is both an advantage to the democracy of the country but also a disgrace to the country as media personnel and the public have used it to gear negative ethnicity.” The workshop focused on equipping the young media professionals with tactics of dealing with negative ethnicity whenever they come up while they are airing programs at the studio. Callers should make sensible comments free of hate and free of negative ethnicity.