Danger of female and male students living in same hostel

Norbert  Onu is an undergraduate at one of the universities in the eastern part of the country.

He recalls that he was opportune to be among those who lived in the same hostel with his female counterparts all through the four years he spent in the university.

Onu said that when he gained admission into the university, he searched for accommodation and that the first hostel he was brought to was one co-habited by male and female students.

His words: “I queried the rationale behind the arrangement as I did not find it comfortable, particularly in view of my family background and upbringing where we were meant to view living together in the same room with the opposite sex as unacceptable.

“As I made attempt towards searching for another accommodation elsewhere, I realized that most of the hostels had the same arrangement.”

He added that he was forced to settle with the first, because of the security and serenity of the environment when compared with the others.

Another student studying English Language, Ladidi Hassan, said when she tried to find out why most hostels in that part of the country had such arrangement, she was informed thatthesingular reason was that of security.

She said, “I was made to understand that due to the incessant cases of rape, robbery, cultism and other insecurity challenges that characterised the female hostels, the school authorities decided to allow male students reside with their female counterparts, arguing that their presence would keep criminals away.

“If you observe most of the hostels, especially the storey buildings, the ground floors are occupied by the male students while the upper floors are for the girls. It’s a deliberate attempt to protect and secure the sheep from the wolves,” she noted.

As sensible as that reason may sound, the question that begs for answer is, how truly secure are the girls in the hands of the boys who, as it were, are meant to serve as security personnel to the females?

A public servant, Odenigbo Uche, said allowing male students to live in the same hostel with their female counterparts would only promote promiscuity.

Narrating his experience while in school, Uche said that the increased cases of unwanted pregnancy and abortion recorded during his days might not be unconnected to such carefree living arrangement.

“Some girls end up packing into the boys’ rooms and becoming roommates. I know of a girl who lived in the same room with her boyfriend from her first year until she graduated. Only God knows how many abortions she must have had,” he said.

Mrs. Ezeugwuh Gift said she was shocked the first time she visited her daughter in school and saw where she was residing and had to quickly withdraw her from the hostel.

“Why would they allow boys and girls to live together in the same hostel? Thank God I visited her the time I did. Who knows what could have happened if I had gone only in her final year,” she said.

A civil rights activist, David Omame, however, justified the male-female cohabitation. He argued that someone who has attained a certain age could be assumed to be mature and as such would be able to demonstrate some level of self control.

He said allowing boys to stay together with their female counterparts was one sure way of building morals, adding that it helped both the boys and girls to be conscious of the opposite sex.

According to him, it became particularly necessary these days of gay marriage and homosexuality which many students were falling victims to.

“I will rather allow my male child to cohabit with his female friend than to allow him live with his fellow male and risk having a homosexual as a child in the long run,” he added.

In her reaction, the Anambra State Commissioner for Social Welfare, Children’s and Women’s Affairs, Dr. Mrs Victoria Chikwelu, described such cohabitation as false marriage, which she said, is now trending in institutions of higher learning.

Speaking during the August meeting of the Catholic Women’s Organis