from green to black

White elephant nation

Was rather cheesed about n.u.s sop(s) today, it’s not
a one off incident so I guess this dislike has been
going on for some time.

Well firstly, like we all know, I’m a friggin paying
student of the school! I shouldn’t have to be treated
like a trespasser in my own school.

Secondly, school facilities are meant to be used by
students! Especially the src, sports recreation center.

Does it make sense for a recreation center to be closed
on a day where people enjoy their recreation, i.e. the
weekend? Oh by the way if it were totally closed I would
understand, but heck, they were damn well open to the
public. Look, I know that these people pay the lifeguard
directly (explain this crucial point later) but I should
also be entitled to the same or even greater rights than
the public because my school fees contribute to the existence
of the recreation center which was meant for students in
the first place. The lifeguard is the one who keeps the
keys for the gym, when the sports office personnel are not around.

So the junior life guard was fine and nicely opened
the gym for me. I was responsible and left things in
a better position than before I came. But when I got
him to lock up the gym for me, this older lifeguard
made such a big fuss. Goodness! Is it sop(standard
operating procedure)? Is it the fear of being berated
by some office staff? Then is it because we have too
many rules that people hide behind protocol like that!!!!
It’s the weekend and no sports teams are using the gym,
there are people around, I’m no stranger and have
proven myself responsible, so what’s the beef?

So lets look at things from his point of view.
Things may get stolen. Things may be left in a mess.
The door may be left unlocked. At the end of it all,
he may be held responsible by the sports office if
anything goes wrong. They are valid concerns.

Which leads me to this point, who is the sports office
supposed to serve? Students like me. If we have all
these rules such that it becomes so difficult to use
school facilities we might as well say its all just
for show. Why should the responsible people be penalized
along with the irresponsible? Why put the blame on the
lifeguard and make his life difficult if he wants to
grant access to students?

There will always be theft and irresponsible people
who leave things in a mess. There will be the ugly
ones who will steal weights and what not. But the way
we live life should not be dictated by the actions
of these miscreants. We especially when sufficient
filtering can be done by limiting use to students and
saving the details of their matric card for tracing
purposes. There will be too many among us who are not
fairly served by the school if this happens. When we
pay such high school fees, and may not even use the
facilities at times, we should not be made to suffer
such indignities when there is probably a large amount
of buffer funds in the account. Items can be replaced,
thieves can be caught but injustice should not be
suffered unnecessarily.

I shudder to think if that is not the case, and that
we truly are in need of so much funds. Have you noticed
how some of the new constructions in school are nothing
but white elephants, serving the needs of the few without
giving any benefit to the many, other than perhaps
bragging rights? The newly constructed traffic lights
near lt 11 has done little to ease congestion. The
fences that n.u.s have built up has done little to
substantively improve security. Cases of molest still
occur, the culprits were caught but the idea of
prevention is no more than a whimsical psychological
assurance. Yet all these were from the school budget,
it doesn’t benefit the most of the students (ask them and
be prepared to hear them gripe to you) they have no say on
the projects that go on (the school administration makes
gestures but without real intent) school fees are raised,
and then the school asks how come we do not donate back
to the school generously? How come there isn’t a stronger
sense of belonging or rootedness to the school?
Cant they tell?

But school is a microcosm of the state. We have many
great public projects that really are more bane than
boon to the average citizen. Or they have very
restricted use, hence we should aptly call ourselves
a white elephant nation. For example, nicely manicured
school fields, I’m sure they were meant for soccer but
due to security concerns or wear and tear, the fields
are hardly used. I’m indignant at this predicament
because public funding is the source of all these
facilities yet it cannot be clearer that the public
has no access to it. I’m pretty sure there are more
examples you can think of where the government projects
have proven so restrictive to citizens that they are
hardly ever used by them.

My understanding is that when public funds are
used for public projects, the public should be
able to enjoy the results of their contributions,
what more when we can trace a direct stake in
the project! (like how my school fees contribute
to the upkeep of the sports complex). But we live
in a white elephant nation, and we don’t need to
look far for examples. Just look at the conditions
the future leaders are subjected to. Here in n.u.s

posted by green unseen @ 2:41 AM