THE MEASURES AGAINST COVID-19 IN THE FACULTY OF ARTS: EFFECTIVE OR OTHERWISE?

Foyin Ejilola

August 24 was the date when a lecture-free day was declared in the Faculty of Arts to ensure everyone participated in the university-wide vaccination and health check that was going on. However, the vaccination process ended as anything but a success.

The ongoing university-wide vaccination and health check are among the preventive measures of the university against COVID-19 which now has a new strain called the Delta Variant. The university management in a special release signed by Olubunmi Faluyi, made it known on August 15 that the university was making arrangements to ensure that all students and staff of the University are vaccinated. Shortly after that, a calendar showing what date and day each unit and faculty is scheduled for vaccination was released.

In the Faculty of Arts, a few hours into the vaccination, it was declared that the vaccines had finished. The explanation was that only 200 vaccines were made available to the University of Ibadan for that day and they were shared equally among the faculty and the three other faculties: Social Science, Education, and Economics that were scheduled with the faculty on the same day. That is, only 50 vaccines were brought to the faculty of Arts that day. The students and staff who had waited for hours to no avail were displeased, but they were assured by the Dean of the Faculty that the vaccination would continue the following day.
The university-wide vaccination happens to be one of the biggest moves by the university to curtail the spread of the virus.

Wearing of Masks

The use of nose masks for students ends at the point of entry into the campus. Large gatherings without nose masks and social distancing are not uncommon as well. With the resurgence of the third wave of the virus, it is still surprising that there are neither hand sanitisers nor soap at places like toilets where one’s hands can be washed in the faculty.
While we have spoken countless times about the management, what are the students themselves doing to ensure they are protected? Almost nothing. While they are required to wear a mask to save their own lives, a larger percentage of students still go about without one. It is even more ridiculous that some students do not believe in the existence of the virus. Then, the ones who thought it wise to wear a mask, go another hugging and shaking every Tom and Harry.
Truthfully, there is only little the management can do, if the students do not observe the protocols.

Another measure that was proposed by the UI Emergency Remote Teaching Committee (UI ERTC) is the blended mode of teaching which is a combination of the physical and virtual systems. Everyone knows of the I of the virtual class and it seems the lecturers are still quite unsure of which courses are suitable for physical or virtual mode as many classes are still being held physically or not at all.

While a larger percentage of members of the Faculty are yet to be vaccinated, precautions are not taken seriously, just like in other parts of the university.