Berio Mbala IT is once again that time of the year when thousands of students and prospective students register for the new semester at the country’s tertiary institutions. The Polytechnic of Namibia is one of the higher institutions in the country. Senior students must ensure they paid all the last outstanding fees they owe the Polytechnic of Namibia so that they can be registered for the new semester. Failure to settle this debt could result in such a student/s not being allowed to register. Colleagues, make sure you don’t owe the Polytechnic any tuition fees otherwise this could spell the end of that promising academic road. Registration started with senior students and last Friday afternoon the 19th of January it was the Hotel Management School, followed by students for other courses who registered from Monday 22nd of January to Friday 26th of January. Next week as from Monday 29th of January to 02nd of February it will be the first-year students from various high schools across the country – those who made it through the (IGCSE) International General Certificate of Secondary Education examinations with the minimum requirement of 25 points or even higher to be admitted to college or to any tertiary institutions in Namibia. At the Polytechnic of Namibia, this is the time characterized by several hours spent in very long queues and security guards usually have a busy period directing students where to stand, sit and where to go to next. Any student found not following the security’s orders could end up being evicted from such a queue and being referred to officials at the Registrar. This is also the time when the men in uniform, the security guards, take advantage of us and exercise their power over us with sheer impunity. For one to complete the registration process one has to get over 11 points, as from point one up to point eleven. And three to four guards man these points and this rather compounds matters. While in the registration process you could be sent back to the previous point if it is found that you owe the institution one fee or another or if you still have to account for one book or another that you could not account for from the previous year from the library. The loss of a student card could also take you a step back or for some “mistaken” fee from the library. Some students even say the Polytechnic is becoming a business institution rather than serving students’ interests first because it seems to spend too much time on trivial issues. It happened to me, when I was robbed last week Monday, when two rascals approached me and later held me up at knife-point at Rocky Crest along Sam Nujoma Drive and they grabbed my handbag dispossessing me of its contents that included my mobile phone, some bank notes, a pair of sunglasses, my ID and a student card. I opened a case of theft that is currently under police investigation. The same day I walked to the Polytechnic to confirm my registration, since as I knew registrations were about to commence and I asked what to do next about my lost student card? I was told to open a case and bring a case number on registration and that it wasn’t necessary for me to pay for it, and I opened a case. During the process of registration on Wednesday the 24th of January, I was returned back from point to point, after being in a queue for half a day, over a lost student card. The registrar official at the last point, which is point 11, after I explained the situation to her on how my student card got lost, said: “You have to pay N$80 in order for us to give you a new one, without paying we won’t give you a new one.” She gave an excuse about the Ministry of Home Affairs, saying that, “if your ID is lost when going to the Ministry of Home Affairs, you will have to pay no matter how you lost it.” After being referred back, I had no choice but to fork out N$80, to get over with the registration. From the last point to the cashier, I was referred to the kiosk to pay for the student card and at the kiosk, they too referred me back to the first point of registration for the transfer of the money from my account because Polytechnic still owned me money from the previous payment I made. The whole process one has to quarrel with one guard after another who seem keen on blocking and shutting the way for students. Registrar officials at point 1b helped me and this time I went back to the last point again, and on my way back one security could not let me go in until when I called another security who saw me going back and then he let me in and took a new student card and went over the long nightmare of registration. I came to Polytechnic at 8 o’clock in the morning and finished at 15h00 in the afternoon. It is a typical case of being referred from pillar to post. Since we are directly affected by these long queues we would like to ask the Polytechnic of Namibia’s management to work on the issue and find an amicable solution because this has become a yearly headache. Why not doing the same as paying through the Polytechnic’s account? On the Polytechnic registration form it indicates clearly that students are allowed to pay directly into the Polytechnic of Namibia’s current account number, why can’t they do the same with registration in order for one to register either online or in various centers from the regions in order to solve the issue of long queues on registration?