The ASUU Strike Chronicles II: How To Maximize Your Time

Things You Can Engage in During This ASUU Strike

There are various opportunities that you can key into during this period when schools are closed. Here is a list of about Seven things you can do;


1. Acquire a skill: This one’s a no-brainer, there’s all kinds of stuff you can learn in a few months, and some in just weeks. What about expending your time to improve your IT skills, learn a new language or pick up a musical instrument. You can also build competence in your course of study by joining artisans in your profession - if you are studying Mechanical or Electrical Engineering and so on, learn "REAL" practicals from mechanics and electricians around. That may Sound disgusting but the fact is that you've been taught theories all this while. Prove that wrong after answering this question, "why can't you jump to the aid of Dad when his car suddenly broke down on the road?" The answer is the main reason you should go to learn. The benefit you will receive from such practical experience is COMPETENCE in you career.
If money’s a concern, there are truckloads of free/subsidised learning resources, if you know how to look. It will surprise you where these skills will prove useful down the road.


2. Get a Job: That’s right, lay your hand on a job. With what certificate, you ask? Who says you need a certificate to get a job? There has to be something you know how to do, take home lessons or join tutorial centres to teach your favourite subject or search for someone that needs a helping hand in their business or company, even if you’re going to work for free. You heard that, work for free if you have to.


3. Start a Business: Think you 've got the wits, you can always start very small. Some of the aids you should consider is making online research about starting a small business. Starting your business may begin with identifying a need in your environment or meeting the need of the season. For instance, You don't need angels to tell you that some consumer goods such as recharge cards, greeting cards and others will be over demanded in this yuletide season. So you can find the best you can do either sales agent or (think and open your eyes) of any consumer goods. You can utilize the this time to lay a foundation for your online business.


4. Become a volunteer: Aside from the feeling of accomplishment and fulfilment that comes from serving humanity, volunteering can be one of the most rewarding activities you can engage in, given the potentially high levels of training, travel and connections that such platforms expose you to. You can get a good number of this organizations by making online research. What’s more, most volunteer organisations have programs specially tailored for young and student volunteers that allow you to conveniently sustain your volunteer activities even while you’re in school. Examples are HIV awareness platforms/ NGOs, Red Cross, Organisations that care for the homeless, paraplegics, convicts, etc.


5. Attend seminars and industry events: You stand the chance of increasing your knowledge base and also network with people. You might not know it, but there are always interactions and discussions going on around your chosen discipline on many levels, manifesting themselves in seminars, trainings, meetups, exhibitions, expos, symposia, book readings, concerts and much more. A lot of these are free or subsidised, especially for students, and again there is the opportunity to gain exposure and make valuable connections.


6. Work on that idea: You know what I’m talking about. That song that came to you in the shower. That niggling question that your lecturer refused to (or couldn’t) answer. That book manuscript that has been gathering dust in the corner of your wardrobe. Those ideas that you’ve been too busy going to school to explore. Now is the time to work on those things. You might never get a better opportunity.


7. Create a School Out of your home: A lecturer passing his comment immediately after the ASUU strike introduced the OPEN COURSE WARE(OCW). OCW are course materials (lecture notes, assignments and video lectures) of different universities in the USA and EUROPE that are made public for the purpose of learning. So, you can find your course from different schools online and compare what your lecturers are teaching with what is being taught in the diaspora. Get your course materials from popular universities in the world such as Harvard , MIT and others. Just GOOGLE the word "OCW"



"A Successful man (student) is one who can lay a firm foundation with the bricks others (ASUU and FG) have thrown at him" - David Brinkly


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The ASUU Strike Chronicles: What's Next For Students

Needless to say is the resurrection of the old devil (industrial action- strike) in the tertiary institutions in Nigeria. This is a mistrust against the government who cunningly play on people's intelligence by entering into agreement that cannot be fulfilled. Certaintly, this is a complete drag on our already collapsed education sector in which students are majorly the losers, paying dearly for the stubbornness of our elders with extra years in an unnecessarily protracted "learning process."


Instead of joining the pool of pundits to argue the case out, I will rather stand out to proffer solutions to the pertinent question troubling the heart of most students like me which is
"What do I do during the Strike?"


Going by the turn of event and news surrounding the supposed indefinite strike, it is clear that the earliest resumpton date will be about late January or February 2012 (this is enough time to do something either crime that mars your life or any other thing that builds it). So, why sit all day in front of TV set all day, drinking booze, sleeping more than half of the day and wasting away on facebook or chatting applications.


Remember that "The idle hand is the devil's workshop."

And no sooner had school resumed, news of attrocities committed by fellow idle students at home begin to flood the air while success stories of those that maximized the break often follow as well.


However, the net effect of ASUU strike could be advantageous, if a good plan is developed and sticked to while also it may be disadvantageous if you just wasted away. In fact, when viewed from a certain perspective, ASUU strikes might be a good thing. How, you ask? Well because the duration of the strike might be your best chance of learning/doing stuff that is actually useful and will avail you for life and the future, as opposed to the crap that they’re force-feeding you at school. And I will be sharing a few ideas (in my next post) that might be worth your while if you try them out.



The Greatest mistake a person can make is Doing Nothing J.C Maxwell


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