Parents in Nsukka have pleaded with the Federal Government and the Academic Staff Union of Polytechnics to resolve their misunderstanding for the students to return to school.
They said in separate interviews with the News Agency of Nigeria on Wednesday that the protracted strike had left the students idle and was not a good development.
Mr Paul Ugwuanyi, a secondary school principal, said he was concerned as a parent, saying that the government and the union should consider the interest of the student whose academic future was hanging in the balance.
“I plead that both the government and ASUP make sacrifices by shifting grounds to end the strike,” he said.
Mrs Vivian Aleke, a civil servant, said the government should meet the demands of ASUP, noting that the strike might lure some students into crime or acts of immorality.
“As a parent, I am not happy that my son has been at home for eight months, not because I did not pay his school fees but because of a misunderstanding between the government and ASUP.
“The government and ASUP should remember that these students are future leaders of this country and without education they cannot compete favourably with their counterparts from other countries.
“I plead with the government to do everything within its power to ensure that the strike ends soon so that the students will return to classes,” she said.
Mr Bethel Ugwuoke, a lawyer, said the developed countries of the world achieved greatness because they paid more attention to the education sector.
“We should know that the growth of other sectors of the economy depends on education.
”Some polytechnic students who should have graduated by now are still at home because of the strike; it does not speak well of this country’s education,” Ugwuoke said.
He pleaded with the government and the union to see reason to end the strike to enable students to go back to school.
ASUP embarked on the indefinite strike in September 2013 over the non-release of the white paper on the Visitation Panel to Federal Polytechnics and the non-commencement of their needs assessments. NAN
