Unam students frustrated by release of results day before exams

Students at the University of Namibia (Unam) say they are frustrated with the university for only releasing their continuous assessment results a day before they are due to sit for examinations.

These results determine whether students qualify to sit for an examination or not.

Some students who spoke to The Namibian this week said they could not study for the examinations without knowing whether they qualified or not. The students said releasing the results a day before the exams is unacceptable and adds to their anxiety.

A media studies student, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said she had not received her marks for one of her modules.

“My classmates and I reached out to the lecturer but he didn’t respond. The first opportunity has already passed, but we couldn’t write because we didn’t know where we stand,” she said.

She said she and most of her classmates are now forced to write the second opportunity examination.

“I believe some lectures are abusing their power and making matters personal when questioned or challenged by students. They want you to go with their flow,” she said.

Another student at the university who also spoke on condition of anonymity said the uncertainty of their standpoint upon entering the examination is increasing their anxiety and creating unnecessary stress.

According to the student, these factors cause the students to have to study under pressure.

“We expect to enter our exams with ease, but the uncertainty makes it difficult to study with an eased mind. At this point, some students do not even know whether they qualify for the exams,” the student said.

Namibia National Students Organisation president Dorthea Nangolo yesterday called on Unam to fix its administration.

“It’s the biggest institution in the country… It cannot have such terrible administration hiccups. It’s unacceptable, especially moving towards the end of the year,” she said.

According to Nangolo, students are now being permitted to write regardless of whether the results reflect or not.

She said the same issue is sometimes experienced with the university’s second opportunity examinations.

She said sometimes students write their first opportunity and wait for their results, which sometimes does not come out until a day before the second opportunity.

“So you don’t even know whether you might need to write a second opportunity exam until three, four hours before the exam and that’s when your results are coming out and you see that you didn’t do too well in the first examination,” Nangolo said.

The delay in the release of results has led to a number of students missing their examinations in the first week of exam season.

Unam spokesperson Simon Namesho urges students who missed their first exam opportunity to make use of the second opportunity exam.

Contrary to past policies, students will be allowed to write the second opportunity exam and receive their full marks, whereas in the past, there was a ceiling mark of 50% for second opportunity exams.

“You can write the first opportunity, and you get your 80% or you can write the second opportunity, and you still get your 80%, it will not be reduced down to 50% … If you miss the first opportunity, the second opportunity is as equal as the first opportunity,” Namesho says.

He blames the delay in the release of marks on lecturers who did not finish marking in time and, thus, opted to physically put up marks on their doors or on the department notice boards.

According to Namesho, lecturers were supposed to put up the results on the students kiosks, where students retrieve the admission slip needed to enter the examination hall and which indicates that they are authorised to write.

“It produces [an answer] based on the data on the system, and if that data wasn’t captured, it would then be saying no, even though you know that you are eligible to write. So, that was the hold-up there,” he says.