Student protest disrupts Unam exams

Students gathered outside the administration building at the University of Namibia (Unam) main campus in Windhoek yesterday morning to protest the university''s decision to exclude all students who had not paid their fees in full from writing examinations.

The #ExamsForAll movement was initiated on Monday morning when students were informed that they had to collect stamped and verified examination timetables, granted that their fees were paid in full.

International students alone are said to owe the university N$10 million, and have joined the student protest.

Unam registrar Sifiso Nyati told Namibian Sun that the university management cancelled the Tuesday and Wednesday examinations “because the timetable delivery method was problematic”.

“This was brought about by the fact that instead of students printing their individual timetables from their portal where they themselves told management they could alter them to reflect that they owed the university no fees, the university decided to print the timetable and give students the timetable in person with clearance of debt signals in form of an official stamp.”

Student Representative Council (SRC) member Ester Uushona expressed the students'' frustrations and concerns, saying that “students should not be discriminated against based on their financial situation, but should be allowed to sit for exams based on their academic record”.

Previously students were allowed to print out their own examination timetables, which didn''t allow invigilators to verify whether students had paid their fees since some students allegedly tampered with them.

A source close to the registrar''s office said the university could not afford to deal with student unrest at this time in the nation''s history.

“Unam is probably one of the most reputable and stable universities in the SADC region at the moment due to the ongoing student protests in many of South Africa''s universities,” the source said.





KEITH VRIES