Boon Or Bane? The Impact of the Three Weeks Break on the Academic Calendar.

 By Osuolale Oluwatomilayo. 

The three-week break has been a debate among the University of Ibadan students. While some see it as a much-needed escape from school struggles, academic hassles, and fee hike conflict, others view it as an interruption to the academic calendar. 

Considering the pros and cons, its effects are multifaceted with advantages and disadvantages. However, some contend that the break has altered the calendar’s momentum. 

Last semester was rushed with eleven weeks of lectures followed by the exam pandemonium. A new semester with barely a minute to catch one’s breath and re-strategise have commenced. Where is the chance for our academic comeback? The hassle of good grades and the constraint of sufficient breaks is enough to discourage one and one’s desire to be that model student. 

The new semester started with a series of unstable electricity, all attributed to the famous “national grid”, still it feels like the semester hasn’t even begun. 

Considering the recent events, classes have resumed in full swing. Most faculties have started lectures fully, while some have yet to. The struggle has once again continued. Some argue that the three-week break provided the opportunity to refocus and re-strategise, but did we not resume examinations immediately after the break?

If a new one began with a breath of fresh air and more flexibility after the issues faced in the previous semester, survival wouldn’t be for the fittest alone. 

The academic calendar and lectures are almost overly demanding, leading to fatigue in the early days of a new semester. Most students are overwhelmed, exhausted, and discouraged and are just trying to survive yet again. I speak for myself when I say this. 

It is no news that faculties like the Faculty of Sciences have started conducting tests for students even now that the semester is barely a month. Every student and teacher alike is still adjusting to the workload we need to catch up on in such little time. If this semester is to last for eleven weeks with exams following immediately, the lecturers are not to be blamed for wanting to cover as much as they can in the period provided. 

What is to say about the non-existent Christmas break? Of course, we will get the 25th off, but many students including myself were looking forward to getting at least a week off. The absence of Christmas and New Year’s break amidst the rushed semester leaves one wondering if the calendar has always been arranged this way or if it’s just this session. The odds are not in our favour but aluta continua regardless.

It is the beginning of the third week of lectures and the academic atmosphere in school is concerning. 

Look outside the window and you will see groggy-looking students with puffy eyes, mismatched clothes and faces set in a scowl all moving with the hustle and bustle of catching up with that 8:00 am class.

 At the end vitória é certa. 

The only merriment in the air is the thought of eating convocation rice of those who have escaped the struggles in hopes that one day, we would be happy we left and share our rice with the same enthusiasm.

I believe that it is important we all take a moment to relax, reflect, let go and move on. Yes, the new semester is here and it might feel like yesterday that we celebrated the end of examinations but that is the past. And yes, the calendar has been restructured to meet the criteria that it should, regardless of how it affects daily living. Remain positive that you are still ahead of the game and in a minute now the semester, just like the previous one, would disappear like it never happened. 

So hat then is the break’s effect, a boon or bane? The answer will not be heard from me. Rather than disregarding the pros and cons of the break, the struggle should be embracd because it never ends.