Midlands State University students a forgotten lot

learnt to love no-matter how dilapidated the infrastructure is becoming.
However, just like any other resident or person that hails from Gweru, we certainly demand progress as the city fathers seem to have forgotten what attaining city status implies.

The lack of progress in the fourth most populated town of Zimbabwe is aptly exhibited in the living conditions of some students at the second largest university in the country by student population, the Midlands State University.
The university is located in Senga suburb, which is a six-minute drive towards the eastern part of the central business district.

To people like Tavonga Chinovengwa Ganduri, a freshman in the faculty of Commerce majoring in Accounting, the living conditions outside the campus are a burden to him which makes the fifteen week semester a torture to his spirit.
To pay US$50 per head for living in a room with other people is unfathomable. Note the US$50 is charged per head and not per room.

About seven people can occupy each room with both male and female students living under the same house.
I strongly felt the MSU students are a forgotten lot, the undeclared “sanctions” they are subjected to drains the intellectual fabric in them.
The world over, universities are supposed to be the breeding ground for innovation and invention not endurance.

Most of the students graduating from the university are scarred by the nightmares from these hardships that they have been subjected to and no wonder why their grades are not up to scratch.
One of the significant ingredients to a complete graduate is conducive learning conditions, training an IT graduate for four solid years without any personal computer to apply the principles is tantamount to a surgery without an anaesthetic drug.

A comparison with a first world university will leave more questions than answers. This could be the reason why graduates in developed country seem more learned than ours.
Most of the landlords in Senga are cashing on the desperation by the university students to achieve unrealistic-cum exorbitant rentals outside the other rates, which include water and electricity rates, yet the infrastructure is far from being maintained.
The admissions office at MSU alongside the Government might have failed to appreciate the demographic trends in the small city.

One might be forgiven for being lenient with authorities since their bigger vision was to open up opportunities to the disadvantaged populace who could not have a chance to go for degree studies.
Why is it that we do not have laws to protect the vulnerable tenants in society?
Is owning land or a house a right to disregard welfare of the under-privileged? Who then are we to blame if students turn to vices such as prostitution?

It cannot be an argument that one has to move out if not satisfied with the rentals. This is the same reason why an outcry always erupts when shops adjust prices upwards.
The rent board has been busy dealing with back room cases when apparent criminality is the order of the day in the City of Progress.
Save for the students at the MSU, we can expect different results across the economic spectrum.

The implications of the embattled academic society are so far reaching and they can be felt at corporate level.
Most of the rooms are so dilapidated that they cannot even accommodate a book shelf, the motivation to study is almost non-existent as the exorbitant fees and living expenses continue sky-rocketing.
This is truly a forgotten part of the social economy and it needs urgent attention.

As election period draws near, chances of students falling prey to the machinations and trickery of politicians is looming.
It is a world order that university students have capacity to change the face of the decision-making process through their active participation in daily domestic affairs of the nation.
It will not be fair to see politicians clamouring for votes from students who become a “forgotten tribe” soon after the elections.

There must be a minimum standard of living, which is acceptable to college students. This is a section of society which is so revered that one can forecast the future of a nation by merely having a look at the levels of tertiary education of a nation.
Today, there is a deep out-cry for USA to out compete other nations as the math proficiency levels in that country are being outclassed by a number of countries.

Only 32 percent of American youth are proficient in mathematics, which spells a doom in terms of that nation’s potential to mould engineers, scientists and physicians.
They fall way below Shanghai, Canada, Netherlands and South Korea.
In Zimbabwe, there is need to review our approach towards tertiary students without straining the already thin resource base.
What is the rationale of buying a university official a vehicle for US$80 000 amongst a host of other benefits when the stock of books in the library is worth below that amount. With US$80 000 the University can build decent accommodation for a number of students.

The harsh living conditions which most students are exposed to are a breeding ground for bitterness and corruption, we are essentially building a professional society which will go into the world with an intention to cover up for the “stolen years”.

Their level of judgement may not be trusted for a local economic climate they were exposed to will produce unwanted results.
It must be the agenda of Government to empower its academically active populace before they become economically active.

Save the future souls of the nation from the self-aggrandisement and materialistic lust by the privileged landlord who are ripping off desperate students.
Thank you and God bless you.