How OAU's 12,000 student increase strains lecture halls, hostels and tests
Agbele Oluwatofolafun For months now, Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU), Ile-Ife, has grappled with overcrowding as its record student intake, reportedly nearing 12,000 new admits, pushes lecture halls, hostels and testing facilities to breaking point. While expanded access brings more students to campus, many say the growing population is eroding learning conditions and welfare. Lecture venues across faculties overflow daily, forcing students to stand by windows, sit on floors, or listen from outside. Classes often get postponed, merged, or shifted to inadequate spaces when halls fill up. Ola, a Part 3 Mass Communication student, described the chaos in Agric LT, their main venue. "There are over two hundred students in our programme. People squeeze themselves beside others, they sit on the staircase, and even at that you'll still see some people standing. But na because say we no get choice sha. Other lecture halls are either being used or maybe they are even small...