The Nation Newspaper

Tag: Education

  • One year of education under change agenda

    According to the great Nelson Mandela “Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world.” I cannot agree less with Madiba. If Nigeria must witness change in the real sense the most potent weapon to be deployed is education.

    There is no doubt that the current government was bequeathed with a decayed education sector. Graduates from our universities are considered not employable by many multinational companies in the country, not their fault though. I have been privileged to sit in an interview session once and I was shocked at the quality of graduates produced by our universities. I saw graduates who could hardly write or speak a complete sentence correctly in English.

    We should not be surprised that we are here already, several years of neglect, nepotism, and corruption couldn’t have produced a different result. Today, we have many certified uneducated graduates roaming the country. Nigerians not only send their children to Europe and America to study, they are sending them to Ghana and Togo as well. This is happening in a country whose once upon a time, our premier universities were great citadels of learning that could compare with any in the world. Foreign students trooped into our universities because of the quality of learning they offered.

    All of that became history; our citadels of learning became the den for all sorts of vices, such as cultism, hooliganism, prostitution, exam malpractices, plagiarism, sexual harassment etc.

    Lectures no longer serve as the eggheads of society, many now engage in sex for grades and selling of handouts to students. I cannot recall lately any research innovation from our Ivory towers that helped solve a national problem the nation was faced with. Rather than research, lecturers are now more of businessmen. The secondary and primary levels are not any better save that the private sector is heavily involved at those levels. Government over the years has simply adopted a very mediocre approach to the provision of quality education at all levels.

    The Buhari administration has promised to fix the decay in the education sector. The government in its first budget sent in a N403.16 billion for the education sector. This amount is only lesser than that of three ministries namely the ministries of Interior, Power, Works and Housing and the Ministry of Defense. The government through the Minister, Mallam Adamu Adamu, has promised to ensure that all funds allocated to the Ministry of Education will be judiciously used unlike what obtained in the past. This is quite reassuring.

    Those who know will tell you that some of the biggest frauds carried out in the last government was carried out in the ministry of education and agencies under it. Many funds that could have gone into providing infrastructure in our various institutions were simply diverted to private pockets. Fortunately, the close watch Mallam Adamu has kept on the ministry has given effect to President Buhari’s zero tolerance for corruption as the ministry is now a trailblazer on how to make government transparent.

    Nonetheless, the government must further intensify efforts at stamping out corruption in our education sector. Quality educational standards can never be achieved in a corrupt environment. The government must act to sanitize the processes of appointing heads of agencies of parastatals and agencies under the ministry of education. Since the minister is already on the right track in this regards, I can only urge him to do more.

    The government has promised to build six new universities of technology in the six geo-political zones of the country. This is in furtherance of its commitment to promote the growth of science and technology in the country. This is a welcome development and it is quite commendable. I am however amazed when some people criticize the Joint Admission Matriculation Board (JAMB) in its efforts to introduce computer based examination systems.

    Adamu must see to it that this progress is not rolled back and it is commendable that he has already thrown his weight behind the innovation. Government cannot be seen as claiming to encourage science and technology on the one hand and then on the other hand withholding support for innovative technological processes within its agencies. The government should support JAMB in its effort to improve the quality and processes of its exam. Anyone who chooses to study at the tertiary level in the year 2016 must at the least be able to operate a computer to take a test.

    I am constantly impressed by the rate of computerization of the processes at JAMB. From the purchase of forms, to registration, the unification of admission processes, to checking of results – all these processes are computer based. For this reason I believe the government should back the recently introduced computer based examination system. The computer based system will reduce exam malpractices drastically and further improve the quality of students being admitted into our higher institutions.

    I want to commend the Dibu Ojerinde-led JAMB for being innovative and leading in deploying technology appropriately to solve our educational challenges. Prof Ojerinde, will definitely be leaving behind a visible mark of excellence and innovation like no other in this organization that he has led for close to a decade now. If other agencies of government are as pragmatic and as innovative as JAMB has been in the last decade, I am sure our education sector will not be where it is today. I singled out JAMB to prove that transforming our education sector is not impossible; it however requires men of vision and character to lead such transformations.

    Also now that the budget has been passed the government should begin work on its plans to recruit 500,000 graduates to help with teaching at the primary school level. This will go a long way in improving the quality of education at the foundation level, which is the most important part of any building.

    Training and remunerations of teachers is also key. If teachers are not happy with their working conditions they may teach but just halfheartedly. If any job requires full dedication it is that of teachers.

    Agbese is a civil rights activist. He contributed this piece from the United Kingdom.

  • Group lauds Buhari for maitaining stability in education

    Group lauds Buhari for maitaining stability in education

    The Centre for Social Justice, Equity and Transparency (CESJET), has commended President Muhammadu Buhari, for maintaining stability in the nation’s higher institutions.

    No few than 10 institutions were shutdown for different reasons when Buhari took over last year.

    The group in a statement on Monday in Abuja noted that the president had largely avoided the prolonged shutdown of institutions that traditionally plague administrations in their first year in office.

    The statement by CESJET Executive Secretary, Ikpa Isaac, said that the relative stability maintained in the education sector was commendable despite the economic hardship that had limited government’s ability to implement projects.

    The statement reads: “The Education Minister, Mallam Adamu Adamu had started on a less than popular footing with some policies and somersault like the controversial termination of the tenure of Vice Chancellors of Federal Government owned universities. But he has since gained traction and working hard to justify his appointment by President Buhari.

    “The ministry under Adamu demonstrated that it is in tune with trends in education worldwide with his support for the ICT revolution at the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board, JAMB.  This is a pointer to his clear understanding of how important the sector is to our country.

    “We however urge the Minister and by extension President Muhammadu Buhari that Nigerians expect further improvement in the sector when the economy begins to recover. Citizens will take the level of commitment to education in the past one year as the minimum basic and would not accept a decline for any reason.

    “We also urge that the sector should be modernized as rapidly as possible given the years of neglect that had left curricula outdated by several decades. The development at JAMB, which fully digitized and modernized most of its operation is the way to go and should be rolled across others facets of the education sector.”

     

  • SSANU unhappy with funding of education

    SSANU unhappy with funding of education

    The Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities, (SSANU) has decried what it termed deliberate underfunding of the education sector by the government, saying the allocation of N403 billion to the sector in the 2016 Budget was grossly inadequate.

    The Association, in a communiqué at the end of its National Executive Council Meeting, urged President Muhammadu Buhari to immediately send a supplementary budget to the National Assembly to take care of the short fall in the budgetary allocation to the sector.

    The communiqué signed by the National President of the body, Comrade Samson Ugwoke, described the allocation as disappointment and far cry from the 26 percent UNESCO standard.

    The Union said the allocation was extremely low and cannot have any positive impact on the educational sector, stressing that the allocation to the education sector is grossly disproportionate to the needs of the sector.

    It stressed “that many countries with less incomes and population than Nigeria, place more premium on budgetary allocations on education and finds it ironic that a government that promised to employ 500, 000 teachers can devote so grossly meager sums to the educational sector.”

    The union also reminded the government that the renegotiation of the SSANU/FGN 2009 agreement was long over due, adding that the continued delay will not be good for the university sub-sector.

    It faulted the  delay in setting up a negotiation committee, noting that this “ was not in the best interest of peace in our universities”.

     

  • ‘We’ll provide quality education’

    ‘We’ll provide quality education’

    The Executive Secretary of Ikorodu Local Government Area, Wasiu Ayodeji Adesina has said the council is committed to the provision of quality education for the citizens. He made the promise during this year’s edition of the Spelling Bee Competition organised for some primary and secondary students

    at the council’s secretariat.

    Represented by his wife, Bolanle, the council chief advised the contestants to be committed to their studies to enable them to be useful to themselves and the society, saying that when they are valuable citizens, they would be able to contribute to the country’s socio-economic and political development. He also urged them to eschew all forms of social vices that may prevent them from becoming useful citizens.

    He said education is the bedrock of any emerging society, saying “the event was aimed at encouraging our young ones to strive towards excellence and hard work as means of achieving greatness.

    He said the competition was all about learning and improving one’s knowledge through spelling words that may prove taxing. He praised the efforts of Lagos State Government in improving the standard of education, saying that the competition serves as a continuous assessment for schools.

    Praising the wife of former Lagos State Governor, Senator Oluremi Tinubu for initiating the competition as a way of improving quality of education in the state, the council chief said the annual competition has helped in no small way in widening the scope of knowledge of the participating pupils and students in the area.

    Mr. Adesina reminded the audience of the fact that the Spelling Bee Competition serves as eye-opener not only for the youth, but also for adults.

    Continuing, he said: “Spelling is a fundamental step in education and it should be taken seriously. It forms part of the fundamentals of reading even though many unintentionally ignore it. It is a matter that should be taken seriously.”

    According to a release signed by the Head of Information Unit of the council, Rosemary A. Uneanya (Mrs.), at the primary school category, Miss Ogundipe Zainab of Ayangburen Primary School, Ikorodu emerged the winner while Master Oke Chukwudi of Sham-el deen Junior Grammar School, Sabo Ikorodu emerged the winner at the secondary school level.

  • Education minister’s action killing sector, says group

    A non-governmental organisation, Concerned Citizens for Educational Development (CCED), has accused Minister of Education Mallam Adamu Adamu of initiating policies that impact negatively on the sector.

    The group said unless urgent steps are taken to reverse them, the nation’s educational sector will be heading for an implosion.

    In an April 26 letter to the minister signed by the group’s National Convener, Comrade Solomon Adodo, the CCED expressed concerns that since the former vice-chancellors of 13 new federal universities were wrongfully sacked by the minister, many of the succeeding vice-chancellors have borrowed a leaf from the minister by continuing to flout the relevant universities rules. They have been sidelining the governing councils in most academic appointments, the letter alleged

    The unfortunate implications of this, according to the group, is that merit is unwittingly being replaced by mediocrity, while ineptitude and intimidation prevails, even as academic excellence and scholarship continues to take the back seat in our institutions of higher learning.

    Using the case of the Federal University of Lokoja as a case, the group alleged that the new Vice-Chancellor, being a product of the unilateral appointment by the education minister, has continued to make other appointments in the school, including the Deputy Vice Chancellor without recourse to the institution’s governing council as provided by the act setting up the school.

    The group also listed the appointment by the minister of the new Vice Chancellor of the Federal University of Oye Ekiti, who is a retiree professor, noting that the extant laws setting up the federal universities does not permit such an appointment.

    It further cited the case of the National Open University of Nigeria (NOUN) with a unique establishment act, where the newly appointed vice chancellor of the institution has set in motion, a plan to reduce the academic standard of the school by attempting to scrap some study centres of the institution, meant to cater for the academically unreached persons in Nigeria.

    It also criticised the new VC of NOUN for contravening due process and the statute setting up the school by appointing the Director of Media and Protocol for the university without placing any form of advertorial or conferring with any other relevant organ within the university system.

    The group regretted that, “The flagrant attitude of the newly appointed VCs are bolstered by the fact that they are not answerable to any other body within or outside the universities, since their appointments were friendly compensation from the Minister of Education.”

  • Catholic Church sues Ekiti govt over education tax

    Catholic Church sues Ekiti govt over education tax

    The Catholic Diocese of Ekiti has filed a suit against the imposition of levies on pupils in its primary and secondary schools by the Ekiti State government.

    The church urged an Ekiti State High Court to declare that the defendants could not impose education development levy or tax on pupils and schools.

    The court is to restrain the defendants from further demand of the levy.

    According to the originating summons, the Incorporated Trustees of Catholic Diocese of Ekiti are the claimants. The defendants are the Attorney General, Commissioner for Education and the government.

    The Church wants the court to determine “if every child of primary school and junior secondary school age in Ekiti State is not entitled to free and compulsory basic education.

    It also wants the court to determine if “the imposition of education development levy or any tax or levy on pupils and schools in Ekiti State, including the claimants’ schools, by the defendants, does not violate Section 2 of Compulsory Free Universal Basic Education Act 2004 and Section 19 of the State Universal Basic Education Board (SUBEB) Law”.

    The Catholic Church also wants the court to determine if the defendants could impose education development levy or tax on pupils and schools “without a law validly passed by the House of Assembly”.

    The Church is seeking an order of mandatory injunction directing the defendants to endorse and approve the applications of  pupils of its schools for the National Examinations Council (NECO) examination, pending the determination of the substantive case.

    Diocesan Bishop Most Rev. Felix Ajakaye said he was “concerned about the propriety of imposing any development levy on pupils in Catholic mission schools in Ekiti State, moreover when our schools are paying various levies and taxes demanded by both the local and state governments”.

    Addressing a briefing at the weekend, Ajakaye expressed dismay at the closure of seven Catholic schools even as some of them are preparing for their NECO examinations.

    The closure, according to him, followed the breakdown of negotiations between the Diocese and government representatives.

    The cleric said as a law abiding body, the Church was taking steps to seek judicial resolution of the matter.

    “The affected pupils are writing exams and government is closing down their schools. That is insensitivity.”

  • Buhari’s economic policies “opaque, archaic”- Ezekwesili

    Buhari’s economic policies “opaque, archaic”- Ezekwesili

    Former Minister of Education, Oby Ezekwesili on Saturday faulted President Muhammadu Buhari’s current economic policies.

    According to her, the economic policies are similar to those he promulgated during the military regime he led in the 1980s.

    She spoke at a public engagement forum organized by the Covenant Church led by Pastor Poju Oyemade in Abuja.

    Mrs. Ezekwesili said that Mr. Buhari’s “archaic” and “opaque” economic principles are not only encouraging massive corruption and abuse of power, but also hurting the poor they were intended to help.

    She said: “During the first coming of this our new president, a command and control economic system was adopted. During that era, inflation spiralled. During that era, jobs were lost. During that era, the economic growth level dipped.

    “That era wasn’t the best of eras in economic progress. What did not work in 1984 cannot possibly be a solution in a global economy that’s much more integrated.”

    She said that Mr. Buhari was rehashing the same “command and control” approach towards economic issues which has left the country’s economic indices worse off since he assumed office almost year ago.

    She added: “In over one year, the president is still holding to the premise that command and control is the only way out.

    “In a year we have lost the single digits inflation status we maintained in past administrations.” She said

    Mrs. Ezekwesili said Mr. Buhari’s distortion of foreign exchange system has left the poor it was intended to support even worse off.

    She said: “The president comes into this economic philosophy on the premise that he does not want the poor to suffer. I can relate to that, a leader must not allow the poor to suffer, especially a leader who knows that most of his votes came not from the elite but from the poor.

    “The problem though is that the intention and the outcome are diverged. The weakest and the most vulnerable suffer the impact of inflation the most. Enormous power is being abused as a result of opaque economic policies.

    “Companies are suddenly finding themselves unable to produce because they’re unable to access foreign exchange,” she said.

    Mrs. Ezekwesili, therefore, urged Mr. Buhari to sit down with his administration officials and reconsider the impact his polices have had on the nation’s economy.

    “Mr. President should sit with his team and look at the economic evidence that speaks loudly. It’s time to sit back and review the well-intended idea of command and control economic principle.

    “He should do what the Americans say that if it ain’t broken, don’t fix it,” Mrs. Ezekwesili stated.

  • Foundation backs quality secondary education

    New Nigeria Foundation (NNF), a non-governmental organisation that promotes sustainable community development initiatives through public private partnerships, has called on government to enhance the quality of secondary education in Nigeria.

    Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer of the Foundation, Prof Obafemi Ajibola, made this known at the celebration of NNF’s 15th anniversary in Lagos.

    He explained that NNF since its inception has continued to work hard to justify the vision of its founders by implementing social sector development activities that reduce poverty, generate wealth, create jobs, enhance economic growth and improve healthcare and general well-being of Nigerians through the facilitation of partnerships between public and private sector organisations.

    Ajibola said the management of NNF focused on education as a key area of concern in the celebration of its anniversary partly because of observable steady decline in the performance of students in national examinations in the last 10 years.

    “We must find a solution to this problem and we must prepare our young people in such a way that they will be able to deliver the Nigeria of our dreams,” he said.

    As part of NNF’s contribution to enhancing secondary school education, the Foundation hosted a symposium with the theme “Making secondary school education relevant for the 21st Century student.”

    The event featured a keynote address by renowned educationist, Prof Abiola Lanre Awosika and a panel of discussants that comprised leading lights in education management, notably Prof Francis Adesina; Dr Muyiwa Bamgbose; Mrs Folasade Adefisayo and Ms Igho Pearl Ugbogbor. The symposium was moderated by Dr Tunji Abimbola.

    The panel discussed the role of critical stakeholders in making secondary school education effective; integrating technology in the secondary education sector – barriers, opportunities and strategies; the place of private sector investment in advancing secondary school education towards achieving sustainable development goals (SDGs) and mainstreaming entrepreneurial training in secondary education.

    In her keynote address titled: ‘Teachers and technology as critical resources for teaching and learning in secondary school in the 21st Century,’ Awosika spoke on the need to close the gap between the way students live and the way they learn so that they can be better engaged.

    “As a nation, we have to quickly embrace the integration of technology into our learning systems to enhance quality, excellence and productivity. It may take some time for teachers and institutions to be equipped with what is needed to learn in the 21st century but once they are, the impact will be dramatic,” she said.

  • Benue tops basic education devt in Nigeria

    Benue now ranks first among other states in the payment of marching grants for execution of projects in primary schools.

    The Executive Secretary, Universal Basic Education Commission, (UBEC), Alhaji Suleiman Dikko, stated this during a courtesy call on Benue State Governor Samuel Ortom at the Benue Peoples House, Makurdi.

    Dikko lauded Ortom for ensuring the payment of marching grants and intervention in outstanding issues between striking primary school teachers and government despite the state financial challenge.

    He said going by the determination and pace at which the Ortom administration is addressing issues affecting education and other sectors, the future of the state is bright.

    Dikko, who said he was in the state as a representative of the Federal Government in basic education development, expressed the concern of President Muhammadu Buhari over the falling standard of education in the country, particularly at the primary level.

    He charged stakeholders to be committed to the implementation of government’s education programmes.

    He said basic education development programme focuses on girl-child education, out-of-school-children syndrome and the almajiris, to give them western education alongside vocational training, and overall make them relevant to themselves and the society.

    Responding, Ortom, represented by his Deputy, Benson Abounu, assured Dikko of government’s support.

    He admitted that reading culture was disappearing, noting that this was why his administration keyed into the e-Library project of UBEC by establishing one at the Benue State University among other institutions in the state.

  • Council deliberates on education

    Oshodi-Isolo Local Government Education Authority (LGEA) gathered stakeholders, philanthropists, donors, Non Governmental Organisations (NGO) and community leaders to deliberate on how to move education forward in the council during its 2016 Education Forum last Thursday.

    The forum gave participants the platform to address educational challenges affecting the Oshodi-Isolo community.  They were also able to share success stories.

    In his welcome address, the Education Secretary of the LGEA, Honorable Lekan Adekoya, said the forum was necessary to create awareness about issues in education in the area, especially at the primary school level.

    “Today’s event is a particular one. We call it education forum, where all stakeholders in the education family, starting from the School Based Management Committees (SBMC), LGEA, Council are invited to discuss the importance of education in Oshodi-Isolo, especially the primary schools. We are talking about the infrastructure, the quality of teachers input among others,” he said.

    Assistant Head of Service, Oshodi-Isolo Social Mobilization Section, Mrs Adenike Olufehinti, who shared the recent SBMC achievements, thanked them for efforts to improve learning outcomes of the pupils.

    “When SBMC came on board, we realised that many things that had been left undone, they have been doing it.  They have been raising the standard of education in OShodi-Isolo as a whole. A situation where the pupils are comfortable, they will be able to learn very well; teaching and learning will take place,” Adenike said.