By: Joshua Oluwaseun 

For some students at the University of Ibadan, academic responsibilities often come with a heavy cost, mental exhaustion, and limited personal time.

While long lecture hours are often expected in professional programs, schedules that stretch from early morning into late evening are really taking a mental toll on students at the University. Among the most affected are those in the Faculties of Agriculture, Pharmacy, and Veterinary Medicine, where students often commence their academic day as early as 7 AM in the morning and return to their residential destinations as late as 7 PM in the night.

In the Faculty of Agriculture, the brunt of these mental, energy-exhausting lecture schedules is heavily experienced by the 400-level students. Speaking to IndyPress, Dotun, a 400-level student from the Department of Agricultural Economics, decried poor learning environment and limited time for personal study resulting from long hours of lectures.

“For me personally, my brain functions for 3–5 hours. Hence, it has been very difficult for me to cope with the long hours of lectures that span from 8 AM to 6 PM in my Faculty,” Dotun said.

“Also, these classes are often held under unconducive learning environments. For instance, a lot of students are receiving lectures at the same time and due to lack of a stable power supply to power up the fans, heat and stress come in, which add to less focus and concentration.”

“After the classes that span from 8 AM to 6PM, there is no time to even go through all the topics that have been taught during the day in class, making school work extremely difficult,” he added.

Dotun further noted that basic chores like cooking have been challenging for him due to the development.

“Another challenge of these long/late hours of lectures is the fact that eating becomes an issue, since you have to spend your entire day in the faculty premises, unless you are a rich kid that has enough funds to buy junk,” he noted.

Similarly, by 7:50 AM, lecture theaters in the Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Ibadan, are already occupied with the commencement of another marathon day of several classes.

Jasper, a student of Pharmacy, shared the ripple effect of the tight lecture schedules on him.

“Until now, I had not given much thought to the long or late hours of lectures, but I’ve always been concerned about the highly compressed academic calendar. Previously, we didn’t have to complete 11 weeks of lectures, but with the transition to the Pharm-D program which spans 6 years instead of the former 5-year B.Pharm, the current structure being implemented at UI feels very unfavorable,” he said.

Lamenting what he described as academic pressure from the lengthy lectures, he added,“The early morning classes, constant rushing, information overload, and long hours of lectures are overwhelming. Lectures that are meant to be covered over 13 or 14 weeks are now compressed into just 11 weeks, which forces lecturers to rush through the material. The bulky course materials and extensive slides also contribute to lectures dragging on for hours.”

He further claimed that due to the tight schedule, many students resort to cramming, instead of assimilating their offered courses.

“A number of the Pharmacy students tend to cram in order to just pass their exams and move to another level. The things we learn and study are very important and so crucial. Even when the lecturer tries gathering every important thing you need to know about a particular slide, due to the fact that there is no enough time to read the basics, then all you can do at that moment is being selective about what you’ll read without putting into consideration that the one you decided not to read or discard might be important as well. Hence, the act or culture of selecting reading is prioritised, which is not supposed to be so,” he told IndyPress.

He further disclosed that many students skip classes just to cover up while describing the burden that comes with laboratory practicals.

“In fact, due to this particular predicament, most of the Pharmacy students skip classes in order to cover up what was taught in the previous classes. From classes to laboratory practicals, which is another hell of long hours, to you going home to meet a whole lot of workload which includes your assignments, writing your practical reports, a lot of slides to read, especially the 400 level students in the first semester.”

“The problem alone is not only the long hours of classes and late lectures  but the effect of the  morning-till-dawn lectures, which does afford the student to study well as they should ,” he added.

Dealing With Mental Fatigue

While students in the Faculty of Arts, like those studying Linguistics, may not face as much practical work, they endure mentally exhausting theoretical lectures with lengthy duration.

Opeyemi, a 300-level student from the Department of Linguistics, voiced his plight. “I don’t like long classes. In fact, when a class is extending to two hours, it gets me hungry and tired and overall becomes boring. Although there are some classes that last for  two hours and I enjoy them. For example, those that involve arguments, grammar, sociolinguistics, and more, ” he said.

Opeyemi believes that there is a need for some lecturers to prioritize student comfort, urging management to orientate them on that. “One thing I think the school management can do is to train lecturers on how to manage students’ comfortability in the class, which includes how students feel during lectures,” he added.

Another student, Inioluwa, a final-year Linguistics student, provided a more balanced view. He explained,“It is both ways. Some students detest long lectures because all their day is occupied, while some enjoy it.”  he further asserted the need for better scheduling while advocating that students should be carried in the drafting of lecture time-table.

“It is better for lectures to be only held during the day to allow students the  adequate time to rest and enable lecturers to spend time with their families in the evening. It will be equally better if the methods for allocating hours to lectures are democratic in order to know how students  learn best. It is not just about coming to classes but being able to understand what is taught,” he added.

Health professionals, including the World Health Organization (WHO), warn that young adults need regular rest  to maintain focus, immunity, and mental well-being. Students sitting in class for up to 10 hours a day with minimal breaks risk fatigue, stress, and reduced cognitive performance.

By evening, students’ concentration typically plummets. Lengthy lecture schedules reduce learning efficiency and cause unnecessary physical and mental strain.

Ironically, the goal of these long schedules is to promote academic excellence among the students. Yet, many students  have argued that the reverse has always been the case, resulting in more cramming, less understanding, and high rates of burnout.

Late lectures also affect students’ ability to engage in extracurricular activities. Sports clubs, student organizations and religious fellowships, typically held in the evenings are often missed. Female students, in particular, express concern over safety during late evenings,  especially when returning from distant lecture theaters.

According to the University of Ibadan Students’ Union Constitution, the Students’ Union Vice-President is responsible for administering the academic welfare of the students.

Relentless efforts by IndyPress to obtain comments from the Students’ Union Vice-President, Owadayo Olabisi, regarding the development, were unsuccessful as of press time. The Covenant Odedele-led Students’ Union Executive Committee has often been silent in the face of the pressing challenges affecting the students.

It is pertinent to note that as academic programs demand meeting professional standards, the students’ welfare must not be compromised or neglected. It is on this very basis that the management of the University of Ibadan, as well as the Students’ Union leadership, must find a balance between academic rigor and student wellness. Without that balance, the quality of learning and indeed, the future professionals being trained may suffer more than the system can afford.