Yawning For Breakfast

FOR Unam to force students to take a compulsory breakfast is totally autocratic and unacceptable.

The basis for this motive is irrational. Who said that when students yawn it means that they are hungry? Who carried out such an investigation and what methodology was used? Couldn’t there be other significant explanatory variables than presently sought? Why did it take Unam 14 years to realise students were yawning? Lots of Unam students really struggle hard to get their fees paid yet the university is aggravating the situation with its compulsory breakfast, thereby increasing stress on students which may affect their academic performance which Unam pretends to promote, blindly.The so-called Full Loans (N$15 000) from the Ministry of Education proved insufficient for the ever-escalating Unam fees, let alone the so-called Half Loans.And given the nature of Unam’s class schedules, would it be fair for a student with classes in the late morning to wake up early just for the breakfast? What makes matters even worse is that students living in the new hostel have to travel about a kilometre every morning to the dining hall at the old hostel.Is a university now being treated like a secondary school or what? Why is the University management threatening to expel those who cannot afford their useless compulsory breakfast? Is the university there only for rich families or what is their problem? Instead of tackling corruption and making the university a bright institution of higher learning, they instead rob students of their autonomy and milk their parents.This nonsense must stop.I am sure that most students can afford loaves of bread and other foodstuffs at cheaper prices and eat on their own time rather than being forced to pay for breakfast that they don’t even eat yet are paying for.Having seen that more than a two-thirds majority of the hostel students signed against the breakfast, I urge Unam management not to misuse its authority over powerless students but rather make the breakfast voluntary.The students must defend their rights.P Muteyauli Via e-mailWho said that when students yawn it means that they are hungry? Who carried out such an investigation and what methodology was used? Couldn’t there be other significant explanatory variables than presently sought? Why did it take Unam 14 years to realise students were yawning? Lots of Unam students really struggle hard to get their fees paid yet the university is aggravating the situation with its compulsory breakfast, thereby increasing stress on students which may affect their academic performance which Unam pretends to promote, blindly.The so-called Full Loans (N$15 000) from the Ministry of Education proved insufficient for the ever-escalating Unam fees, let alone the so-called Half Loans.And given the nature of Unam’s class schedules, would it be fair for a student with classes in the late morning to wake up early just for the breakfast? What makes matters even worse is that students living in the new hostel have to travel about a kilometre every morning to the dining hall at the old hostel.Is a university now being treated like a secondary school or what? Why is the University management threatening to expel those who cannot afford their useless compulsory breakfast? Is the university there only for rich families or what is their problem? Instead of tackling corruption and making the university a bright institution of higher learning, they instead rob students of their autonomy and milk their parents.This nonsense must stop.I am sure that most students can afford loaves of bread and other foodstuffs at cheaper prices and eat on their own time rather than being forced to pay for breakfast that they don’t even eat yet are paying for.Having seen that more than a two-thirds majority of the hostel students signed against the breakfast, I urge Unam management not to misuse its authority over powerless students but rather make the breakfast voluntary.The students must defend their rights.P Muteyauli Via e-mail