Many injured as Plateau State Polytechnic students protest postponement of exam

Many students of Plateau State Polytechnic were injured on Monday during their protest over the postponement of the first semester examinations by the school authorities.

The students who trooped out as early as 8:45 am for the peaceful protest blocked the highway leading into the state capital thereby disrupting vehicular movements for close to three hours.

The protest was later hijacked by hoodlums who injured both students and pedestrians, damaged cars and other valuable properties.

A source close to the students revealed that the students staged the demonstration to protest the postponement of the examination scheduled to commence on Monday by the management of the polytechnic over a strike notice issued by the academic staff union of the institution, ASUP.

A student of the polytechnic, Mr Thaddeus Yarnang, said the students perceived the strike notice by the lecturers as uncalled for considering the number of years they had been at the home coupled with the covid-19 pandemic.

“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 have spent over three years in just one semester owing to COVID-19 lockdown and 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 because of age,” Yarnang lamented.

“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.

Nigerian Tribune learnt that those who sustained injuries in the course of the protest are receiving treatment at various hospitals within the state capital.

Efforts to reach the Public Relations Officer of the institution, Mr John Ramadan, at the time of filing this report proved abortive.

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