Once again, the country's highest institution of learning, the University of Zambia (Unza) has been closed.

Some people would actually be inclined to yawn at such news if the matter was not of such serious national importance.

Never mind that the closure has been categorised as a three-week recess, implying that it will be a temporary one. Hindsight would however caution against such optimism.

It cannot be denied that Unza, like any other public institution, has had its fair share of problems either from the student body or, as in this case, the employees.

These developments are not unique to the institution because of some of the inherent attributes of public institutions.

Even so however, what appears unique about the University of Zambia is the slow reaction to most of such developments.

We do not intend to apportion blame to any particular side here.

This is to merely put across an observation which most long-time watchers of the institution would to agree with.

There are many times when the students' body has agitated over one issue or another, pertaining to their welfare at the institution.

On most occasions, such demands have pointed to an inevitable confrontation because of the failure to have such demands met or resolved on time.

The unrest by the unionised employees at the institution did not just pop up from nowhere yesterday. It had been going on for over two weeks, a period when the senate is mandated to move in and seek a solution.

One would have thought that by now certain lessons could have been learnt about the nature and suggested manner of proceeding on contentious matters arising at Unza.

This is definitely a much preferred alternative than waiting for violence to erupt as it almost always does.

Innocent citizens' motor vehicles were damaged on Tuesday night as a result of the unrest.

It cannot be denied that the resources available to the University of Zambia are limited as is the case for most public institutions that rely on Government coffers.

In such a scenario, it is difficult most times to meet all the financial obligations as demanded by the employees.

One way out of such a knotty problem would be to phase and spread the meeting of such obligations over an agreed timeframe.

That would allow both the Government and the university to plan and accumulate the required resources.

Immediate solutions where money is concerned are not normally realistic.

In addition, there is no need for undergraduate students, for whatever reason, to injure and maim innocent people going about their own businesses.

Some of these people are the same tax payers whose money goes to support the institution.

The students are expected to be reasonable, understanding and intellectual in their approach to problems.