Covenant University has suspended over 200 students for missing its just concluded Easter ‘Youth Alive’ programme. Parents and students have, however, described the move as unjust.
According to them, the rules of their admission did not say it is compulsory for them to attend the programme organised by the faith-based institution.
A 400-level student on Wednesday said that over 200 students were affected by the decision of the university. He said:
We were going for the services in the morning and night and people were getting tired of it because we were also preparing for exams. So, the Vice- Chancellor got angry and ordered that those who missed the services be sanctioned.
Some were suspended for four weeks and those who had missed eight services for the four days got a year.”
Another 300-level student said some of them have been prevented from sitting for exams and they had no means of protesting the sanctions which he said was ‘unfair’.
“The mood in school is really tense. Though students are not protesting but they are angry because you are preparing for an exam you’re not sure you will sit for, until the paper starts. They stopped me from sitting for a paper last week because I did not go for a service and I don’t know if I will be allowed in today either.”
A concerned parent who took to a social media platform to register her displeasure said the punishment especially for final year students was not commiserate with the offences committed.