MY MISSING SCRIPT

One of the greatest joys of leaving secondary school is being able to secure an admission into the tertiary institutions to study your dream course. When finally you are fortunate enough to gain an admission maybe on a platter of gold, it seems as if you have finally arrived. The thought of staying away from home, not being under parental control and mixing up in an entirely free world grips your mind with ecstasy. You begin to fantasize how life in the university will be and for the more studious ones; you begin to write your dos and don’ts unconsciously in your memory. At this point, your neighborhood will be proud of you not that you’re the first to secure admission but you made it once and not after many years of trials. It looked like a dream to you until you see yourself donned in a matriculation gown smiling to the flashy light of the camera, then it now dawns on you that you’re now a full-fledged student of the university.

By then, you must have received so many piece of advice on how make it in the tertiary institution or maybe how to graduate with a first class or how to boost your God given talent. Indeed, the journey to your life-long dream has begun.

 The journey continues but sooner than later, things starts to fall apart. You’re being hit by one problem or the other which may tend to make you begin to wonder what wrong you’ve committed by coming to the university. One of such problems is having a missing script or having an ‘F’ grade in a course with high units. I remember vividly how I felt when I experienced such problem. I could feel tears running down my eyes when my class adviser told me that I had a missing script in a general school course, “STA211” a three unit course. The news came unexpectedly to me and it shattered my hopes. I have heard stories of similar experiences encountered by my friends and how tedious and frustrating it is to have a missing script. My CGPA was being slaughtered on the altar of missing script. Worst still, my name was omitted in the official grade book either by error or commission. I began to wonder why my name was omitted when I sat for the examination, signed the attendance sheet and even submitted my scripts appropriately. I even sat at the front row during the examination and my name starts with the letter ‘A’ thereby reducing the chances of having a missing script. The thought of having to register the course again and start all over to read and prepare for the examination, dropping a course to make up further frightened my mind making me to cry the more. I have never experienced such a thing before since I began schooling. Indeed, things fell apart. Then the consoling words of my class adviser, “I would advise you to write a letter requesting that your result be released since you sat for the exam” gave me hope. It was better than having an “F” grade; at least I was optimistic that my result will be released. Immediately, I wrote a letter to the department of Statistics requesting for the release of my result. In FUTO, one thing is to write a letter, another problem and more hectic issue is to follow the letter up to make sure it reaches the appropriate quarters. I can remember missing my lectures, trekking from one office to another under the scorching heat of the sun in the pursuit of my omitted result. I had to move from one office to another, I had to put up an innocent face to make the process move faster. At a point I lost hope, but I was encouraged by the fact that my result will be released.

To my greatest shock, when my script was later found, I was told that my OMR sheet wasn’t marked and graded. I wondered what could have led to that. The secretary promised me that it will be marked and my result released and forwarded to my department. Hours rolled into days which rolled into weeks before finally my script was marked and graded and a fairly grade was returned. I couldn’t explain how happy I was when the Secretary told me “Anthony, your script has been marked and your result forwarded to your department”. I was happy not because my scripts has been marked but because the stress of having to miss lectures, move from one office to another was over. I didn’t waste time to check my result and confirm what she told me. Coincidentally, my result was forwarded to senate that same day for approval and that finally gave me hope that I can now wipe away my tears. It was better than having an “F” grade. The university is indeed a home for all. All sorts of human beings with different mentality, temperament and character are found in the university. I know most of us have had similar experienced like mine even worst that mine. I wonder what actually causes this issue of missing script and I just hope students scripts will be handled with care to avoid stories that touch the heart.  You won’t understand until you fall a victim.