By Princess Oghenekevwe Oghojafor
Looking back now, a lot of time has passed since I was given admission to study ‘Journalism and Media Studies’ at the prestigious University of Port Harcourt.
As a student traveling from the busy city of Lagos to Port Harcourt, I had to prepare a lot before embarking on the stressful journey. I resumed school on Monday, 12th of February, 2024.
Since I was late, I had to commence with my clearance which would enable me to become a bonafide student of the school.
So, I started with my physical clearance and I must confess it was stressful. I remember leaving the house as early as 7:00 am in the morning so that I could be attended to on time as we had to stay on a queue. But even at that, I still had to wait as the office did not open until 9:00 am and our Departmental Officer was not available until 12 noon. The result of this was that I wasn’t attended to until around 2 pm and so missed lectures for that day.
After my physical clearance, I decided to go for my medicals. On getting to the Lulu Briggs Hospital, the crowd I saw was so massive that I wondered if every one would get it done. Expectedly, not all of us were attended to on that day. The medical clearance started with the staff on duty taking my blood sample which was used to check my blood group and genotype, and then going for a chest x-ray and lastly going to take another injection for a mantoux test. The procedures weren’t stressful but considering the crowd and the fact that I was told to come back for my green card and results, it was hectic.
When I was done with all this, it was time to move on to my GES registration at the Choba Campus. So, I made my way to the Choba Campus where I was told the documents I needed to submit and photocopy after that. I was asked to pay a certain amount of money before coming back for my thumb printing after paying, we were asked to come back for the remaining textbooks and workbooks but were given handbooks which would grant us entrance during the exam.
After my thumb printing, I was done with my GES registration and it was time to move on to the most important part of my clearance which would make me a recognized student of my Faculty and Department.
Thankfully, at this point I was able to attend lectures. But I had missed a lot of classes while handling my clearance. Both my Faculty and Departmental clearances went like a breeze and I was given a file.
I kept on attending lectures till it was the day of my matriculation. I can remember being really excited that day as it means I was going to be a bonafide student of the University of Port Harcourt. On getting to school, it just felt like a festival or carnival of some sort with a lot of cars, students, photographers, families and well wishers and lots of food, and business people, sales reps etc.
After taking a few pictures and buying a bit of this or that, my friends and I decided to return home. As for me, it was straight to work as I had a test the next day.
Honestly, after my matriculation it felt like everything was a blur and before I could say jack, it was exam period. Remember I said I had a test the day after our matriculation, I think that was the hardest course I offered last semester ( first semester). I can remember all my coursemates being pissed at first because of the amount we were asked to pay for the practical exam, our textbook and examination pass but considering the economic state of the country I think it was rather fair.
After paying, we moved on to the hardest part producing a movie as amateurs with no experience whatsoever. I remember waking up by 6 am, sometimes 5 am and wishing the practical could just end because it was a borrowed course and I wasn’t playing any vital role in the movie but using up the time I was to use to read. Going to set and waiting for hours, missing breakfast and lunch, then re-doing a particular scene for hours was an experience I did not want to relieve at that time but like they say, no knowledge is a waste and if given a chance now I want to relieve that again. Like God answered my prayers, we wrapped up filming and exams commenced in earnest.
After exams, the Department of Film and Multimedia Studies of the Faculty of Communication and Media Studies hosted a red carpet event for the premier of the movie we filmed and I must say seeing the end result, I knew all the stress was worth it.
I must confess, from the period when I resumed school, to when I was processing my clearance to my matriculation and examination period everything went by like a breeze and while those experiences are now memories, I think some measures can be put in place to assist the next set of “freshers” and make school life easier for them.
I’d suggest that regarding the issues on clearance, for the physical clearance, since the staff resume by 9 am, all staff should be on duty to attend to the influx of students in each Department and Faculty. For the medical clearance, I suggest more staff should be assigned to attend to the students so they finish with their tests within two to three days. As for the GES registration, I think producing more textbooks and workbooks would be beneficial for the students and even save them the stress of going back to come back later.
All in all, the life of a student in a university is full of ups and downs, different dramas and a lot of fun.
