No fewer than 7 persons were reported injured as Students of Plateau State Polytechnic on Monday staged a protest over the postponement of their semester examinations by the school authorities.
It was gathered that the protest which was meant to be peaceful was highjacked by hoodlums as few cars had their windscreens destroyed.
As early as 8 am in the morning the students trooped out in large numbers and blocked the Yakubu Gowon way, a major highway leading into and out of Jos.
Our correspondent gathered that the postponement of the examination was as a result of an indefinite strike embarked upon by the lecturers of the institution as the lecturers had issued a notice of strike to the government over they called its inability to meet their demands of earned allowances and other sundry issues.
Speaking to our correspondent Mr Tindak Teophilius a student of the Plateau Polytechnic said about 7 of their students are currently receiving treatment in a hospital in Jos he said some of them were Asthmatic patients who could not stand the teargas fired to disperse the students.
He described the decision of the management to postpone the examination as an attempt to truncate their academic journey.
“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 were not informed; nobody said anything to us we just discovered that we cannot start our examinations.
“This is why students were protesting.
“We have spent over three years in just one semester owing to Covid-19 lockdown, but 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 of because of age,” John lamented.
Another student, Pam Bulus decried the incessant strike by their lecturers, adding that the development has stagnated their academic progression.
“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.
Efforts to reach Mr John Ramadan of the Public Relations Department of the institution at the time of sending this report were abortive.
It could be recalled that the Plateau state government recently said that the ban on public procession by whatever guise and name is still in force particularly at this time that the State is still nursing its wounds from the recent attacks that affected some parts of the State.
The State Commissioner for Information, Mr Dan Manjang who gave this hint in Jos recently said while Plateau state Government acknowledges and respects the right of citizens to peaceful protest and advised Parents to rein in their wards and continue to support the Government in working for the restoration of total normalcy to the state