STUDENTS at Levy Mwanawasa Medical University in Lusaka have protested after the institution gave them wrong failing marks due to the school information technology error.
Some affected students who did not want to be named for fear of victimization told the Scoop that they felt the institution was trying to milk them for more money.
Mary Chibuye (not real name) a second-year student at levy Mwanawasa Medical University lamented that she went through psychological torture thinking that she had failed, and especially the expenditures incurred as she was preparing to rewrite the purported failed courses.
She narrated that on January 5 this year, results for the end of year examination results for the Bachelor of Science and Midwifery programme were announced and unfortunately her results indicated that she had failed one course, when not.
Ms. Chibuye explained that on January 11, she traveled from Kaoma to Lusaka to rewrite the purported failed course on January 12 but was shocked when she was told that she had cleared all the subjects contrary to what was earlier communicated to her by the university.
“We were quite many who were affected. At least over 10 of us (students) who had traveled from different provinces to come to Lusaka at the campus to rewrite were told at the last minute that we cannot rewrite because we cleared. This was contrary to what the institution earlier announced that we failed.
She said much as they celebrated that they had cleared, they were at the same time aggrieved because they were made to spend extra money in order to rewrite the examinations, including traveling from their different provinces to Lusaka.
“We didn’t know how to react whether to be happy or sad or angry when we were told by school management that contrary to what was earlier communicated to us, we cleared all the courses. We were told that the IT system was now indicating that we cleared all courses,” she explained.
She added:”Almost all examination results for programs and courses for the year 2023 were affected, especially on the nursing section, those doing Bsc in Nursing, midwifery, public health nurses, mental health nursingboth second- and third-year students were affected.”
Another affected student Joyce Mwaba (not real name) questioned the credibility of the institution’s marking and announcement of the results system.
She wondered how an established institution such as Levy Mwanawasa Medical University could make such mistakes of miscommunication with regard to results.
Ms. Mwabasaid there was a possibility that the university could be failing students who passed the examinations due to its faulty IT system.
She further called on the Government to intervene in such cases and ensure that students’ rights were not violated in any way.
Repeated efforts to get a comment from Levy Mwanawasa Medical University management proved futileby press time.