6th June, 2014
Damilare Okunola
Newly admitted students of the University of Ilorin, Kwara State, have expressed mixed feelings over the usefulness of the iPad bestowed on them by the school management.
According to those who spoke with our correspondent via telephone, the iPad is as good as useless since the institution did not open up the internet connectivity for all students.
Gloria Odita, a 100-level student of the institution however noted that the iPad eased the election of Student Union Government, SUG executives since it was an e-election.
The Social Studies Education student of the institution told P.M.NEWS Campus Square that “I think the use of the iPad spared us the long queues which the election would have recorded.
“Using the iPad made the school’s website more accessible for students of the institution.”
Ayo Solomon, a student in the Mechanical Engineering Department, noted that the iPad was ‘useless’ since the majority of the students did not vote with the device.
He reckoned that there was no particular data plan for the iPad with the exception of students who know the institution’s wi-fi password at strategic places where they could be used.
“From my findings, many of the students did not use the iPad for the voting because it is quite expensive to maintain.
“We still made use of our smart phones and internet-enabled phones for voting,” he said.
While corroborating Solomon’s comment, Olatunji Gbadebo explained that the students could not afford the data plan for the iPad and that made it quite difficult for them to use it.
The Biology Education student stated that: “If the password had been made available, we probably would have had things easier”.
“Subscription has been our biggest challenge,” he added.
Adeolu Adeyeye, another student of the institution who spoke with P.M.NEWS Campus Square, said that the iPad was not given to the students for the voting process alone, but to ease learning.
While commending the institution for the innovation, the student from the department of Counselling Education explained that it would have been much easier for the students had the wi-fi password been made public.
“With the iPad, getting e-books is a lot easier unlike the way we carry textbooks here and there.
“The SUG election was conducted on Thursday and the results were released the same day, an indication that the internet is by far better but we need the connection regularly to be more efficient.”