By Allieu Sahid Tunkara
The Director of Information and Communications Technology of the University of Sierra Leone has disclosed that the university has opened over six thousand email accounts for registered students.
Dr Daniel Adrian Stevens made the statement on Tuesday during a press briefing at the main library of Fourah Bay College, one of the university’s constituent colleges, which attracted a number of lecturers of the university. Dr Stevens said the opening of the email accounts was to aid them to send their lecture notes to registered students of the university.
“We have opened these email accounts for only registered students of the three constituent colleges of the University of Sierra Leone,” he said. He explained that the accounts were not for new students since they lacked registration numbers, and that the lecture notes that would be accessed by students were not a tool for promotion but a way of student engagement.
“Questions at the end of the lecture notes should be answered and returned to the respective lecturers which will count as continuous assessment of 30 percent when college reopens,” he noted.
A press release dated 10th February, 2015 and published yesterday by Sorie Dumbuya, the registrar of the university, stated: “lecture notes on various modules and levels have been prepared and uploaded by various departments. Registered students can access these modules through the following website: www.usl.edu.sl. . . . Copies of these notes can also be obtained from the libraries of the university’s constituent colleges. . . . CD’s containing lecture notes, as well as the telemedicine services and radio teaching programmes, will be made available in due course.”
The registrar said the latest arrangement was a way of reaching out to students till college reopened. He said that was a stop-gap measure in the Ebola-emergency situation though the non-registration of students remained a big challenge.
“Even when provisional registration was made by government last year, less than 45 percent of students of the university registered,” Mr Dumbuya said.
The Vice Chancellor and Principal of the University Sierra Leone Professor Ekundayo Thompson said that the student engagement strategy was put in place by the university to supplement the last period of the students.
“This is the worst time in history, and this could also mean the best time in history,” Professor Thompson said. He also explained that the World Bank was ready to come and fund the tertiary education in Sierra Leone.
The decision to open the email accounts was first announced at a press conference in the Committee Room of Fourah Bay College on the 19th November, 2014 in a bid to engage students during the current Ebola outbreak in the country.
© Politico 11/02/15
