Students of the College of Midwifery, Tudun-Wada in Kaduna have decried the undue elongation of their programme from three years to over six years without graduation as a result of non-accreditation of the school.

 

Daily Trust Health Desk gathered that the college was established in 2009 during the administration of Architect Namadi Sambo who was the governor of Kaduna State then and has since then been admitting students. The school, our reporter learnt just got accreditation February 2014 after about three sets had been admitted to study the course.

 

According to some of the aggrieved students, no set has graduated since the commencement of the programme, and  none of them has been given index number to enable them write the National Exam that will qualify them to practice. 

 

“We have been in school for over six years now, three sets are on ground waiting to graduate but we don’t know when that will be. The programme ordinarily is supposed to run for three years but we have spent over six years, yet we don’t know our fate,”

 

They lamented: “The problem has been lack of index number. We ignorantly sought admission into the school without knowing it has not been accredited. 

 

 

The school just got accreditation last year February and according to Nursing and Midwifery Council, the school was given a blank accreditation with no students, which means that the school was supposed to start admitting students last year after the accreditation, so with that, it is like, we are starting all over. We are tired of staying in school.” 

 

They called on the state government to intervene in the matter so that they can graduate and forge ahead with their lives. “We are tired of staying on campus and we are tired of running a three years course for six years,” they said.

 

A source told our reporter that the school started running the programme without approval from the Nursing and Midwifery Council. “This automatically means that the students admitted when the school was not accredited will have to remain until the accreditation is done before they can be indexed. 

 

Also, the maximum number of students required in each class is 50 but the school admitted more than that, which is also a challenge,” the source added.

 

When contacted, the Provost of the College declined information on the issue, saying he is new in office, while a member of the Nurses and Midwifery Council called on phone also declined information, saying she is not permitted to talk to the press.

 

By Christiana T. Alabi

Daily Trust