Paheja Siririka
The University of Namibia SRC vice president Phillipus Hamunyela recently delivered the state of the student union address, highlighting the progress which was made regarding the wellbeing of students for the 2020 academic year.
Hamunyela said after rigorous attempts, on 14 February, the registration was extended to the 21 February and students who owed the university were allowed to register without any fees, as long as they provided a payment plan and signed a debit order. He also told Youth Corner that 27 788 students are currently enrolled at the 12 Unam campuses around the country.
“As a student representative council, we are expected to represent students’ needs and help them to have a worthwhile university experience. We are expected to represent students academically and socially,” informed Hamunyela.
He said among others, the office has decided to embark on certain projects like seminars on writing skills to provide students with the adequate writing skills competencies in terms of writing CVs, letters, resumes, articles, research proposals.
He highlighted the importance of foreseeing great things in the future. “We plan to change the university’s atmosphere and culture by making it more exciting. We want to create platforms where students can express themselves in various ways such as sport, music, art and drama,” stated Hamunyela.
He mentioned those activities not only help students to be more active but can also be very therapeutic.
“It will also boost the morale of the students and they will be proud to belong to a vibrant university. Our success will be to a large degree depended on the support of the university management, as young people are often full of passion. Unfortunately, many of our passions are not expressed or properly channeled,” explained Hamunyela.
He noted that the lack of passion leads to much frustration and many starts engaging in harmful activities such as experimenting with, alcohol and drugs abuse - which can further lead to suicide, sexual harassments, unwanted pregnancies and other bad life choices.
-psiririka@nepc.com.na