Education Students Protest Payment of Teaching Practice Fee

The students of the Faculty of Education, FUOYE, have protested the payment of N5000 as Teaching Practice (sometimes shortened as T.P) fee. The Teaching Practice levy was announced in a lecture at Phase II on the 27th March, 2019 by the Dean of the Faculty, Prof. Prof. K. O. Ojokheta and the Teaching Practice coordinator, Dr. Phillip I. Ajewole. The Dean said the payment is necessary because the faculty does not currently have enough teachers who will serve as supervisors during the Teaching Practice programme. According to him, the shortage of staff will enable the faculty to employ hands from outside. Addressing the third year students who will be observing the Teaching Practice, he said “I have personally come to pass this information to you because it is a serious issue. You are all going to pay the sum of N5000 to participate in the Teaching Practice. The 200 level students will pay N3000 too.” “The reason for this is that Education does not have enough lecturers and we have to invite lecturers from other institutions who are going to be paid. The money will also cover booklets for the Teaching Practice.” He emphasised that those who will participate in the Teaching Practice are those who paid the N5000. Dr. Philip I. Ajewole, the T.P Coordinator, said that the students are expected to pay up latest on the 30th of April as the T.P will commence on 16th June to 27th July, 2019. He said the Faculty has been working with the Bursary to enable students pay the money in cash. However, in a swift reaction to the announcement, the students told the Coordinator that they had already paid N5000 in the school fees as field trip fee which can substitute for Teaching Practice. A student from department of Library and Information Science said “Teaching Practice fee is not supposed to be paid. The school management should be responsible for it since it has been included in our school fees as Field trip levy.” Oyeleke Lawrence, a 300 level student of Agricultural Education, said his findings have revealed that the payment of Teaching Practice fee is not applicable in the University of Ilorin. Although T.P students are required to pay N1000, it is for Teaching Practice materials. He said “from my own chat with an Education student in the University of Ilorin, the Teaching Practice is a free course for the students because the fee has been included in the school fees.” In a later interview with UCJ FUOYE, the Director of Teaching Practice, Dr. Phillip I. Ajewole, said the T.P levy is compulsory for those who want to go for teaching practice. He said the exercise is going to gulp a lot of money because lecturers from other Universities will be invited to supervise the exercise. According to him “University education is optional but for students who want to do T.P the payment is compulsory. The TP fee is N5,000 for 300 level and N3,000 for 200 level students respectively.” “The money will be used for T.P materials like booklets, lesson notes and files. It is from it invigilators invited from other institutions like EKSU, UNIBADAN, UNILORIN…will be paid”, he added. “The T.P is in two tranches. The first one is 2 Units and the second one is 4 Units which makes T.P alone 6 Units. It will be a Carry Over for any student who did not go”, he concluded. He responded in the affirmative when he was asked if he received approval from the University Management before asking students to pay for the T.P. The Teaching Practice is an integral component of the teacher’s training. The T.P is a course that grants students the needed teacher’s experience in the actual teaching and learning environment. It is compulsory for all education students in the country to do and to pass.