The students of Oyo State College of Health Science Technology have written an open letter to Governor of Oyo State, Engr. Seyi Makinde on the need to intervene and prevail on their management for failure to do their statutory responsibilities that will enable them to be registered, certified and licensed as Surgery Technicians. The copy of the open letter as sent by the students to ODUDUWA NEWS is reproduced below.
Engr. Oluseyi Makinde,
The Governor,
Oyo State.
Your Excellency Sir,
REQUEST FOR URGENT INTERVENTION
We final year students of Oral Health Science Department, studying Dental Surgery Technician in Oyo State College of Health Science and Technology, Eleyele Ibadan, formerly School of Hygiene, Eleyele, write to bring to your attention for urgent intervention the unreadiness of our department and college management to fulfil its core mandate.
Upon admission, we were assured that we will be CERTIFIED and LICENSED as Dental Surgery Technicians after fulfilling our academic requirement, unfortunately, it appears the management is not interested in fulfilling this.
Aside other academics requirements, aspiring Oral Health Technicians must be licensed by the DENTAL THERAPISTS’ REGISTRATION BOARD OF NIGERIA to be eligible to practice, it is, therefore, the responsibility of the college to prepare students and register them for the board examination according, students who pass will the examination will subsequently be issued the licence to practice by the board.
Since the inception of the department in the 2016/2017 academic session, two sets have graduated so far and despite paying for the board examination, none of the over 100 students from both sets was registered for the board examination by the management, leaving them unlicensed, hence, unemployable.
It is sad that after paying one of the highest cost for this particular course compared to any government-owned institution in the southwest, graduates are left roaming the streets due to the refusal of the college to perform its duties of indexing and registering them with the board.
By the end of this session, we would have spent 3 full years and not less than 400,000 ( Four Hundred Thousand Naira) in our pursuit to be certified and licensed Dental Surgery Technicians. As demanded from our predecessors who were not registered despite paying, the management of the institution has again set a deadline for the payment of a total of N45,000 ( Forty-five Thousand Naira) for the board examination.
Although the sum is outrageous for an examination which the board itself requires just about N 7,000 (Seven Thousand Naira). We have endured higher degrees of extortions from the management since our admissions, hence, our concern at the moment is not the fee but the sincerity of the management to truly register us for this examination as we dont not want to suffer the same deception previous sets suffered.
We know for a fact that other institutions like, Ogun State College of Health Science and Technology, Ilese and Kwara State College of Health Science and Technology, Ijebu-Ode who offers the same course registered their students for this board examination, we, therefore, wonder why our institution has been negatively different.
The information at our disposal is that the board is already rounding up registration and indexing for this year and as usual, our school has not registered We, therefore, plead that you intervene and prevail on the management to be truthful and do the needful before it’s too late.
Thanks and God bless you, sir.
CC :
National Association of Nigerian Students
Special Assistant to the Governor on Student Affairs
Director, Department of State Services, Oyo State
Commissioner of Police, Oyo State
Oyo State Ministry Of Health
Oyo State Ministry of Education
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