The Nation Newspaper

Tag: Education

  • Our Girls, Gumsuri; GE Marinho;  29% WAEC pass, 71% Nigerian education failure; MEXAHNYIA

    Our Girls missing since April 15 joined by Gumsuri Dec 12 victims kidnapped by Boko Haram who murdered 33. Christmas Day will be empty for many. Let us all buy a present and a meal for an Internally Displaced Person, IDP and send them through your pastor or imam.

    Nigeria survives because of the sacrifice of millions. Permit me to pay tribute to Mrs Grace Ebun Marinho who joined the saints triumphant at 78 years. She had six children: Bisi, Nike and Tunji Osuntokun whose father Major Osuntokun, senior brother of late distinguished Professor BO Osuntokun, died when they were infants and Yinka, Funmilayo and Laolu Marinho with my father Dr Abayomi Marinho whom she married and supported through the rest of his life. She had a successful nursing career with Lagos State. I was sort of number one childas I was 17 or so years old when we met and all the children still have nightmares about me making them finish their food ‘because many children have no food to eat’. Sorry O, aburos! Now they have children they are singing the same song. I wonder why? I also used to take them to the cinema as compensation.

    Aunty Ebun was a uniquely warm hearted person, welcoming, smiling and offering all a meal and an invitation to stay, sometimes for years. She ran one of the last truly open houses in Nigeria. She had memory for family history and an excellence in the kitchen. Her Saturday moin moin was original ‘leaf wrapped and ready by 9am’ to be dispatched from her home where she presided as Mama Gbagada especially at Christmas, New Year and Easter-. My visits from Ibadan were completed by at least two moin moin, gariice block water and no sugar pls. Any moin moin affectionado knows that good moin moin always leaves the best tasting morsels hidden between the leaves. Her moin moin melted in the mouth. The lessons from Aunty’s life include patience, perseverance in the face of death and adversity and peaceful coexistence. Another lesson is that people, especially elderly relations, must be taken for regular completemedical check-ups. She will be missed particularly tomorrow, the first Christmas without her in Gbagada. May her gentle soul RIPP- Rest In Perfect Peace. Amen.

    We have cause to worry and not only about the absence of electric power growth since 1999 when it was 3000Mw and still is 3,000Mw 15+years and $?billions later. And the worry is not even at Fulani and Boko Haram Wars or the coming election violence war. We must worry that even in non-war torn parts there is routine disgraceful mass exam failure. The pass rate at the recent WAEC examination in key subjects is 29% pass or 71% failure.  The failures will enter the ‘market’ as cannon fodder for politicians who ‘mistakenly sent their own children abroad to study’ and some will join Boko Haram as examples that western education fails.

    The mass failure for young citizens is horrendous. It is a disgrace to government institutions where the vast majority of these failures occur in spite of N100 billion+ in the accounts of oversight bodies. Most schools lack basic education facilities, like good books and good teachers. The good student will study in a pigsty and still succeed. However, the majority of students worldwide are plodders needing prodding by good books and good teachers. American books tend to simplify complex problems better than traditional British books. The art and science of mental arithmetic has been lost to the calculator leaving the brain unchallenged, feeble and unable to add, let alone remember a telephone number. When I did the school run with eight or nine children we did mental arithmetic while I drove. Mental arithmetic is not WAEC mathematics but it helps.  As soon as you want to add 1+1 those around you immediately produce some IT device like an I-Pad. We require ‘Annual LGA, State and National Mental Arithmetic Prizes’ to revitalise our youth brains. Even our health officials were mathematically challenged as to whether there were 10 or 11 Ebola Victims.

    Note that 29% of anything is failure and each government level has responsibility. Education is a conveyor belt, so far with poor products. This failure requires a strategic  ‘Education War’ to counter Boko Haram. Our abysmal education fuels their propaganda. Government should learn from and not destroy private education. We should embrace and visit what is good. Visit Afe Babalola University AdoEkiti, ABUAD to get an honest education yardstick and work backwards to primary school. Every town has good private primary and secondary schools to measure against. God bless these great Nigerians proprietors, organisations and religious bodies which provide alternatives to failure, at a cost, yes. Government must provide better fast, for the current students on the education conveyor belt. Cutting class sizes, increased quality and dedication of teachers, more and better books and facilities are not nuclear physics, but the essential ingredients of education success and rights of the youths.

    Remember that in 2015 politicians will spend billions on millions of posters towards ‘election success’ but will never approve 10million educational posters for one million empty bare-walled classrooms in Nigeria for ‘exam success. Shame. A picture is worth 1000 words except in Nigeria.

    Ps: It is not too late to buy a present and a meal for an Internally Displaced Person and send them through pastors or imams. MEXAHNYIA.

  • Way forward for education, by scholars, others

    Way forward for education, by scholars, others

    How will education fare in 2015? Will the sector be marred by strikes as witnessed in previous years? Stakeholders believe things will be better if the sector is well funded and infrastructure refurbished, among other measures. KOFOWOROLA BELO-OSAGIE, ADEGUNLE OLUGBAMILA and MEDINAT KANABE report.

    In 2015, stakeholders hope that the education sector enjoys a better fortune.  However, that will not happen if necessary steps are not taken to address poor funding, infrastructural decay, insecurity, especially as a result of insurgency, and poor performance.  They seek changes in the following areas:

     

     Tertiary education

    The problem of quality at tertiary level is of concern to – academics and employers.  This is one of the reasons that the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) went on strike for six months in 2013.  The Academic Staff Union of Polytechnics (ASUP) and the Colleges of Education Academic Staff Union (COEASU) also went on an 11-month strike that was suspended on July 12, 2014’s appointment following  Mallam Ibrahim Shekarau stepped as Minister of Education.

    The unions protested the poor state of teaching and learning facilities in school, which has an attendant effect on the quality of graduates produced by the institutions.

    From a research he conducted with others last year, former Executive Secretary, National Universities Commission, (NUC) and Pro-Chancellor, Crawford University, Igbesa, Ogun State, Prof Peter Okebukola, said poor infrastructure actually places Nigerian universities behind others on the continent.  However, he said Nigerian universities are richer in terms of curriculum, quality of students and academics.

    He said if infrastructure is improved, and students study more, while academics research more, Nigerian tertiary institutions will lead Africa.

    Okebukola said: “On the not-so-pleasing side, our data revealed that relative to many other countries in Africa, Europe and North America, Nigerian universities are poor in infrastructure, reading culture is poor among students and research culture among staff is weak.

    “Aside from South Africa and Egypt, our date showed that no other national university system in Africa matched the quality of curriculum, staff and students of the Nigerian university system. At international conferences, Nigerian scholars are rated among the best in terms of quality of participation. Students trained in Nigerian are highly sought after for postgraduate studies in European and North American universities and during post-graduate training, they perform among the best.

    “Looking beyond 2015, the overarching strategy is to improve access and quality of education and make it more relevant to productive activities, value re-orientation, employment generation and wealth creation.  Government at all levels should upgrade/rehabilitate existing facilities as well as construct new classrooms, laboratories, libraries and provide basic infrastructure and instructional materials.”

    If the Federal Government keeps to its promise to pump N1.3 trillion into public universities in the next four years, then the lapses identified by Okebukola would be addressed, says the Vice Chancellor, University of Lagos, Prof Rahamon Bello.

    He said the first tranche of the money (N200 billion) disbursed last year is being used to correct the anomalies in university infrastructure as well as train teachers.

    “For university education, the intervention of the Federal Government in terms of the Needs Assessment of Public universities will go a long way to assist us to rectify all the areas of physical problems we have.  The fund is aimed at correcting existing facilities that are not up to standard.  Every faculty has projects going on in them simultaneously; classrooms are being upgraded to world standard with internet, interactive board, projectors and good chairs; science laboratories are being expanded and equipped.  It is obvious that things will get better,” he said.

     

    Insecurity/Insurgency

    Last year, schools were torched, pupils and students killed, and some others kidnapped by the Boko Haram sect in Borno, Yobe and Adamawa States, and other parts of the north.  With thousands of young people scarred by the sect’s operations, National President of the All Nigerian Confederation of Principals of Secondary Schools (ANCOPSS), Dr Binta  Abdulrahman urged Nigerians to show concern over the problem of insurgency.

    “This is no concern of government alone but the entire Nigerians,” she said.

    Educationists say it is time for the government to use education to address insurgency by ensuring all school-aged children go  to school, and reviewing the curriculum to include content that address religious/ethnic intolerance, psychological trauma, among others.

    On his part, Mr Stephen Akintola, CEO, GileadBalm Group and President, Infinity Foundation, said massive investment in education is the only way out of the problem of insurgency. He said the government must work hard to mop up pupils who do not attend school.

    He said: “I was born in Maiduguri and it is true that poverty was a major issue in fact that informed my foundation for orphans. Any serious leader in the north must really condemn any act that reduces education. See what education has done for Malala and whenever you listen to her you see that she is saying the fact. Education helps if only people will go to school. The Almajiri School also is a good one; the government should be supported and encouraged on that. Government should make sure everyone goes to school, because if they do poverty will be easily alleviated and the problem of insecurity will be resolved.”

    To Prof Okebukola, said the curriculum should be reviewed to dilute the Boko Haram ideology.

    He said: “We are not to take up guns to fight but draw on the power of education in addressing the challenges even as we are on our knees praying.

    “We begin with the curriculum and suggest some toning up of the basic education curriculum to which all six to 15 year-olds in the country are exposed. Boko Haram is about ideology and indoctrination. Education is a powerful tool for ideology change and indoctrination. We should draw on the potent and positive power of education to counter the jihadist messages of the insurgents.

    “The Nigerian Educational Research and Development Council which is charged with curriculum development and renewal should embed topics in all subjects in the basic education curriculum that can steer the young hearts and minds of Nigerian children and youth away from religious violence and jihadist tendencies. The message of religious tolerance should hit the children from all sides in every subject they learn and everyday in school. The school anthem should contain a line or two which promotes temperate living.”

    Mallam Garba Abdu Ganger, Managing Consultant, Prime Functions Consultants based in Abuja, also said in an interview that Nollywood could play a role in re-orienting youths.  He also said psychologists and counselors are needed to rehabilitate children traumatised by the insurgency.

    He said: What about the Nollywood? Our creative industries? What kind of films should they make?  Any film you watch from the U.S. or any country is a public relations artifact; it is portraying the image…So can we do our films with content that can work on the psychology of children who have been traumatised, can we do text books?

    “What about the support of services like counselling, psychology, education psychologist and even content developers? What kind of content, like the textbooks that they should use, content developers, who are sensitive to this kind of situation can we begin to readers and essay’s, stories that will work on this dramatization of the children and begin to orient them.”

    Concerning insurgency and electoral violence, the National President of ANCOPSS, Dr Abdulrahman, has this advice for youth:  “Our youths are the ones often use to perpetrate this violence therefore I have a message for our students: do not allow any politicians to lure you into political thuggery. If anybody wants to entice you with money to fight, simply say no!”, She warned.

    Prof Biodun Akinpelu of the Faculty of Education, Lagos State University (LASU), said insurgency can also be checked by securing the country’s borders.

    “I teach in LASU, so I interact with some of these people in Alaba Rago market (a market controlled mostly by northerners which shares neigbourhood with LASU). Our experiences have shown that many of them are not northerners but emigrated from Chad, Niger, and Republic of Benin and within three or four years they learn to speak Yoruba or pidgin.

    “Today, we find many of them in security, military and even customs, and it is easy for these people to collaborate with outsiders to do us harm.  The truth is, our borders are porous, let government plug all loopholes and stop these people from sneaking illegally into the country,” he said.

     

    Intervention in Primary and Secondary Education

    Like tertiary level, former LASU Vice Chancellor Prof Abisogun Leigh said basic and secondary education needs adequate funding as well.  He described the state of education as “terrible”, and called for a state of emergency to be declared in the sector.  He counselled against politicising education.

    “Something definitely is fundamentally wrong and we should leave politics aside. I think from my own experience, it is funding. The Federal Government is not allocating enough percentage of the budget to education. UNESCO says minimum of 26 per cent. There is nothing wrong for state running free education up to secondary school. They have the money but are misallocating to other areas, that is what is wrong,” he said.

    Chairman of the Lagos State Universal Basic Education Board, Mrs Gbolahan Daodu, also agrees that basic education sub-sector could use massive injection of funds to address the challenges of infrastructural decay and teacher deficit.  She welcomed the notion of the lawmakers introducing a sister agency to the Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund) which provides grants for public tertiary institutions from the two per cent of accessible profits of registered companies.

    “That would be cheering news because I think we are making a mistake if we don’t fund the foundation. The root of development is actually at the primary level and we have said the same thing even in respect of the Eko Project grant( that is disbursed to secondary schools in Lagos State).  We ought to have started at the primary level. So it is a welcome development and I think it will yield a lot of fruits,” she said.

    For Dr Leni Omoyimi, a academic, Nigeria should begin from the primary school level to develop an education curriculum that is futuristic.

    He said: “It is a philosophy built on the fact that the right education is the education that would make the individual discover his purpose and in discovering your purpose which definitely rely in the future, it won’t be part of what has expired. It is something that would be the reason for you to want to continue to live…so the education that would enable you actualize must be the focus and the reason for education and that is what life itself should mean, learning how to actualize. So that is why I said it should be a curriculum that focuses on what the future contains or the kind of future we really want to see manifest.”

    Private partnership in education service delivery.

    Private partnership is one area that the President Goodluck Jonathan’s administration boasts to have provided an “enabling environment for participation of individuals and agencies in the delivery of education services under government’s regulation.”

    However, proprietors of private  basic, secondary and tertiary schools are complaining of multiple taxations and lack of financial support from government despite rendering a social service.

    In Lagos State alone, there are over 12,000 private schools educating 1.4 million children as against 1,671 public primary and secondary schools educating 1.1 million children.  Mrs Bolajoko Falore, Education Director, Mind Builders School, Ikeja, said despite helping government to provide education for the teeming population of school-aged children, private school proprietors get little support from the government.

    She said: “I will still continue to repeat it: the government cannot do it alone. They need this private partnership to educate our young ones.  But from the look of things, they are not really giving us support.  They are more or less frustrating us – multiple taxation here and there.  We are battling with our own challenges of no electricity; we have to get diesel and the government instead of assisting us, instead of making thing easier for us, they are even the one exhausting us by all these multiple charges and I will use Ogun State as an example.  Once you cross into Berger area, the agents here will ask for this; they will ask for that.  On each vehicle (school bus), I pay at least N18,000 to get all the papers.”

    Mrs Falore is urging the government to support proprietors with grants or low-interest loans to help them work better.

    “If they can actually give us a kind of grant to do most of these things we need to do – there is no way we can compare some of the public schools to private schools that have all the facilities in place – so if they can actually give us a kind of grant, instead of asking us to pay the annual dues, I think it will be better,” she said.

    Vice Chancellor of the Joseph Ayo Babalola University (JABU), Prof Sola Fajana, is also seeking grants from the government to fund private universities.  He is calling for an amendment of the TETFund Act of 2011 to allow private universities benefit from the grants.

    Fajana, who has also condemned the heavy taxes imposed on private universities, said private universities were not making profit.

    “The private universities in the country are not profit making institutions. They are established to support the government. The private universities like the public ones provide social services, hence the need for the government to support them,” he said.

    Prof Akinpelu supports the view that private institutions should enjoy public funding. He hinged his argument on the fact that some private universities in Nigeria have been adjudged outstanding either in some programmes they are running or in terms of research works as certified by NUC.  He said such institutions deserve to benefit from government funding.

     

  • Insecurity starving education of funds, says expert

    The high cost of fighting the insurgency in the Northeast is telling on human capital and economic development in Nigeria, says Mr Garba Abdu Ganger, a management consultant.

    Delivering the 2014 Public Lecture of the Nigerian Institute of Training and Development (NITAD) entitled: “Security, Economy and Education: The Way Forward”, in Lagos recently, Abdu Ganger said the Federal Government needs to pay attention to this cost to avert future problems.

    Abdu Ganger explained in his lecture that because of efforts to check insecurity, money that ought to be spent on education, economy and infrastructure is being spent on defense, rehabilitation of displaced people, and repairs.

    “Insecurity is a major hindrance to development.  Because when there is insecurity, money to be spent on something else is now diverted.  Government budgeted N32 billion for insecurity last year; then the National Assembly approved another N60 billion and another 100 million dollars.  If government spends that amount on education, we will not be here today,” he said.

    The lecturer said the cost of insecurity can be direct or indirect.  While direct cost includes medical, legal services, and repairs, he said indirect cost includes loss of investment in human capital and effect of psychological harm, among others.  He said indirect cost is worse as it negatively affects future development.

    To address insecurity, he advised the government to tackle structural violence caused by poverty and marginalization, ensure good governance and re-educate the people.

    Discussing the topic further, Dr Leni Omoyinmi, a lecturer, said Nigeria has to re-design its education system to be futuristic and not historical.

    He said: “It is a philosophy built on the fact that the right education is the education that would make the individual discover his purpose and in discovering your purpose which definitely rely in the future, it won’t be part of what has expired. It is something that would be the reason for you to want to continue to live and you are going to be remembered for your purpose. It is only by the fulfillment of this purpose that you are actually fulfilling the mission.”

    In his speech, the NITAD President, Dr Kayode Ogungbuyi, said the theme of the lecture was apt given the upheavals the nation experienced this year.

    “The theme of this year’s lecture, ‘Security, Economy and Education: The Way Forward’, could not have been better chosen given the unending disconnect between security and education with the implications on national economy. We are all bearing some of the emotional, social and psychological effects of the disconnect,” he said.

  • The challenges of university education

    Education sector, just like other sectors in Nigeria, is in a sorry state and the Government needs to declare a state of emergency in it. More attention needs to be paid to the sector since it is from there that we produce the manpower that controls other sectors. In fact, it is the mother of all sectors.

    The education sector is in quandary as it is today in Nigeria. As a result, other sectors have all fallen below bar. University education is no longer what it used to be. To some Nigerians, standard university education does not exist in Nigeria, hence the sheer number of Nigerians enrolling in foreign universities.

    Again, it is unfortunate that no Nigerian university is among the top hundred universities in the world. The major challenge that university education must overcome is poor funding. If the government could pump more money into university education, more laboratories, hostels and lecture halls will be built and maintained to create an enabling environment for learning and also reducing overcrowding.

    University education also needs funds for paying the lecturers, in order to mitigate industrial action usually embarked by them. Corruption, christened ‘sorting’ or ‘runs’ in the university system has eaten deep into our education fabric. Gone are the days when students read for examinations. Majority of Nigerian students now depend on ‘sorting’ to pass their examination. Some greedy lecturers will tell their students that no matter how hard they read for their examinations, they will have to “sort” or risk failure.

    This challenge can be a thing of the past if the students decide to embrace their books and report lecturers that indulge in “sorting” to their school authorities who should punish any lecturer found wanting.

    We are in the jet age where everybody wants the easy route. This hastiness has resulted in poor research. Students, lecturers and government have a share of the blame. Half-baked graduates are churned out yearly because the students prefer peripheral learning to the rigours of research.

    Furthermore, inadequate infrastructure poses a big challenge to university education. Most universities lack basic infrastructures such as water, electricity, Information and Communication Technology (ICT) and so on.

    And this ugly trend affects lecturers and students who wish to embark on thorough research, especially on the internet.

    Technology has made teaching experience rather interesting. E-learning is gradually taking centre stage and for Nigerian universities not to be left behind by this trend, the issue of poor service from network providers must be rectified.

    Finally, insecurity, a national issue in Nigeria at the moment, has led to untold deaths, harassment and rape on campuses by foul elements. Security must be provided in Nigerian universities to curtail the evil activities of cultists and hoodlums who storm universities to wreak havoc, thereby distorting the school calendar.

    I believe Nigerian universities can be in parity with their foreign counterparts only if the Nigerian government takes proactive measures in tackling the above challenges. A better future is possible if only we act.

     

    Uchechukwu, 100-Level Medicine and Surgery, ABSU

  • Continuous medical education training for doctors

    Continuous medical education training for doctors

    India’s Apollo Hospitals Group, one of the world’s largest integrated healthcare providers, has held a two-day Continuous Medical Education (CME) training session in Lagos and Benin-City respectively. The training was to improve the medical competence of Nigerian health professionals.

    The training featured three topical issues in surgical procedures in knee replacement, amendment of heart failure and management of post-renal transplant conducted by Senior Consultant and joint replacement Surgeon, Dr Muhammed Sehar; Senior Cardiology Consultant Surgeon, Dr Sunil Modi and Senior Kidney Transplantation Consultant Surgeon, Dr Vijaya Rajakumari respectively. They all came from Apollo Hospitals, New Delhi India.

    Dr Modi said heart failure is a complex clinical syndrome characterised by abnormalities of left ventricular function and neuro-humoral regulation, accompanied by effort intolerance, fluid retention and reduced longevity.

    He explained that heart failure is not a disease, even as he added that diseases such as high blood pressure, heart attack, diabetics, infection of the heart muscles and rheumatism could trigger failure of the heart.

    Dr Modi said hypertension is the number one silent killer of mankind because of its most common symptom which is “no symptom,” and the most common reason which “is no reason.”

    “Treating heart failure helps to relieve symptoms, helps to reduce exacerbations and helps to improve survival,” he said. He blamed the seemingly helpless situation on lack of awareness.

    While giving a critical insight into kidney transplant among patients, Dr Rajakumari explained that 50 per cent of patients were either diabetic or hypertensive.

    Her words: “If you look at these adults, the other 50 per cent will either be chronic nephritis or nephropathies. Lupus erythematosus is most common in children, some of whom are born with small kidneys. That is when they develop kidney failure.”

    Dr Oluwabusuyi Abu, one of the participants at the CME training, expressed satisfaction with the session and thanked the organisers for the initiative.

    He said: “I give kudos to Apollo Hospitals and Diamond Helix for this initiative. The session was well organised and the speakers were right on point. Within this short while, I have learnt a lot from the three different speakers who talked about issues related to our medical practice. They included knee replacement, amendment of heart failure as well as management of post-renal transplant. The three speakers did very well and I am very happy about that.”

    Another participant, Dr Gertrude Ogunkeye, said she learnt a lot from the programme, adding that she is in a better position to talk to all adults she knows to, at least, go for medical check-up once a month.

    Continuing, she said: “Make sure you are not hypertensive, make sure your kidneys are working well and whatever problems you have found, follow them with the doctor’s advice totally and carefully. Also, as a paediatrician, my job is to educate the mothers about taking care of their children’s health because a lot of problems that manifest in adults also manifest in the children.”

    Expressing her satisfaction for being part of the event, Dr Margret Uduma said: “I am going to review all the information I got here today. I am going to make sure I don’t forget any of them and I am going to put them into practice. I would also like to continue to educate myself medically.”

    General Manager, Marketing and Strategic Business for Apollo Hospitals Delhi Mr Raj Raina assured that the hospitals would provide observer programmes for Nigerian doctors.

  • ‘Technical, vocational education key to solving unemployment’

    ‘Technical, vocational education key to solving unemployment’

    Youth unemployment is a challenge facing many nations in the 21st Century. But how can government solve the problem? This was the focus of the seventh inaugural lecture delivered by Dr Emmanuel Aromolaran at the Yaba College of Technology (YABATECH).

    Aromolaran, who is a former Dean of School of Technical Education, spoke on the topic: Business education: A panacea for unemployment in a depressed economy. According to him, unemployment is cause of the waste of human resources found in abundance in Africa. He said the remedy was to train the youth towards job creation.

    Aromolaran said the government could use business education as a tool to fight unemployment through technologies and skill acquisition.

    He said: “It is pathetic, that our tertiary institutions’ graduates, having spent minimum of four years in school with one year compulsory National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) scheme, will have to roam the street, looking for non-available jobs. Their inability to be engaged in productive venture makes many of them to take to crime and other social vices.”

    The don said the way out was for the government to empower unemployed youths through entrepreneurial training and establishment of small and medium scale enterprise. He also said collapse of disparity between university and polytechnic degrees would help in solving the unemployment riddle.

    In his conclusion, Aromolaran said technical and vocational skills acquisition remained the solution for Nigeria to escape the revolution by the army of unemployed youths.

    The lecture witnessed the gathering of academics and students. The body of principal officers was led by the Deputy Rector (Administration), Dr Morouf Adebakin. Others are Mrs Hannah Akanbi, Dean School of Technical Education, former Rector, Mr Gabriel Okufi, Prof Duro Ajeyalemi of the University of Lagos (UNILAG), Prof Anthony Adekunle of Ekiti State University (EKSU) and Dr Femi Adeniyi, Provost, Federal College of Education, Oyo State, among others.

  • NGO partners education ministry on ‘peace education’

    African Foundation for Peace and Love Initiative (AFPLI), has partnered Lagos State Ministry of Education on the International Day of Peace Lagos Creative contest involving over 100 secondary school pupils across the six education districts.

    The event, which took place penultimate week at the Nigerian French Language Village, Lagos, had as its theme: “Promoting peace education and peaceful atmosphere for the right of peace to people during and after 2015 election.”

    In his welcome address, President of the Foundation, Rev Titus Oyeyemi, said the organisation is revolutionalising peace education by engaging many channels, which include inuaguration of school and community-based peace clubs.

    According to him, some of these initiatives include the African Children of Peace Clubs for children in basic schools, the Youth Peace Alliance Clubs for teenagers, and KAIROS Peace and Love Clubs targeted at undergraduates in tertiary institutions. The fourth is the New Peace Legacy Clubs, targeted at young graduates undergoing their one year compulsory National Youth Service Commission, (NYSC).

    The foundation, Oyeyemi explained, is also taking peace education to a higher level by designing, developing and publishing education curriculum and text books suitable for  contextual needs, applications and adaptations.

    Oyeyemi said the foundation has been participating at the International Day of Peace and other United Nations (UN) programmes and events since 2006.

    “Regrettably, the voice of the Nigerian children and youths are constantly missing from the political affairs of the nation. For this reason, pupils from the six education districts have been invited to present dramas and playlets to promote peaceful 2015 general election,” he said.

    Representative of Akran of Badagry, Aholu Menu Toyi, Chief Harrison Ajose, advised people to stop violence by encouraging the use of the word ‘please’ and giving children right grooming at home, knowing that they are the future leaders.

    “Grooming of children is a partnership with parents, the school and the government. We should use this occasion to ascertain peace, build better character in our children and good neighbourliness,” he said.

    Ajose appealed to Nigerians to consider peace and togetherness by rededicating themselves to creating a better Nigeria.

    The pupils presented dramas, songs and poems on the need for peaceful election. At the end, District IV came first in the song category with 25 points, while District II and District III emerged first and second runners up with 21.4 points and 13.5 points respectively.

    With 28.5 points, District III topped, district II and I with 21.4 and 20.1 points to clinch the star prize in the drama category.

    Also in the poem category, District II led others with 25.8 points, followed by District I with 22.5 points and District III with 18.2 marks.

  • Atiku makes case for public education

    Former Vice President and Founder, American University of Nigeria (AUN), Atiku Abubakar, has cautioned the Federal Government against regarding private education as a substitute for public education.

    He spoke at the ninth founder’s day celebration of the university which held last Saturday at the Lamido Aliyu Musdafa Commencement Hall of AUN in Yola.

    Atiku, who is seeking to run for the presidency on the platform of the All Progressives Congress (APC), said it is the responsibility of the Federal Government to adequately fund public education so Nigerians can access qualitative education.

    He said private education should supplement public education such that Nigerians patronise private schools because they want to and can afford it, and not because the public institutions are lacking.

    “Private education is not, should not and cannot be a substitute for proper government-financed public education.  Rather, private education should be supplementary and by choice for those who wish to and can afford to use its services.  Very good government must and should invest appropriately in public education for development to take root in our country.”

    At the event, Atiku was presented with the prestigious Harris Watford Global Citizen Award by the American Peace Corps Association.

    “No private businessman in Africa has worked harder for democracy or contributed more to the progress of higher education than Atiku Abubakar,” the group said.

    President of AUN, Prof Margee Ensign, said the purpose of the yearly Founder’s Day was to celebrate the founding, development, and remarkable progress of the development university.

    “AUN is a reflection of our Founder’s vision, and it has only been made possible by his extra-ordinary generosity. The AUN Community is particularly pleased to use this occasion to publicly thank its Founder, His Excellency Atiku Abubakar, for making American University of Nigeria possible,” Ensign said.

    This year’s grand ceremony was marked with colourful procession, reflective speeches on the consequences of insurgency in the Northeast and the threat of Ebola, and achievement awards to deserving students, staff and outstanding friends of the university.

    Among the special guests in attendance were Prof. William Ellis Bertrand (keynote speaker), former Minister of Education and DG Atiku Campaign, Prof. Babalola Aborishade, Bishop Matthew Hassan Kukah and elder statesman Otunba Oyewole Fasawe, an age-long friend of the founder.

     

  • Redeeming our education system

    It was Aristotle, who said: “The roots of education are bitter, but the fruit is sweet.” Then, the revered Nelson Mandela added: “Education is the most powerful weapon you can use to change the world.” To George Washington, education is the key to unlock the golden door of freedom.

    But the potent key to opportunities in Nigeria has witnessed many crises, leading to the drop in in quality and standard. The reason for this could be located in the way policies are formulated and behaviour of people towards education.

    Every year, we are faced with grim performances of candidates in major examinations, such as the West African Examinations Council (WAEC), the National Examination Council (NECO) and Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB). There is always outcry whenever results are released and the government does not usually care about it. Over time, we have had cases of malpractices and several anomalies that have marred the conduct of these examinations but with the recent upgrade in the system, our flaws are exposed for everyone to see.

    Our education system is in turmoil and the older generation would castigate us, bragging about the quality of knowledge in their time. But who is at fault?

    The older generation is always quick to rubbish the new status of our education. The generation enjoyed free and quality education and a conducive environment for learning. They were served three square meals and they made their choice on what they wanted for food. They had stewards to do their laundries for them every week. They were taught by committed lecturers and had access to good libraries and useful journals.

    Some of them had jobs waiting for them before they completed their studies. They had oversea opportunities to further their studies on scholarship. They never witnessed unreasonable strike actions by lecturers. This was the system that produced the likes of the late Prof Chinua Achebe, Prof Wole Soyinka, Mrs Grace Alele-Williams, Prof John Clark, late Prof Dora Akunyili, Prof Gamaliel Onosode, Prof Babatunde Osotimehin and Ambassador Dapo Fafowora, among others.

    These people have made their marks in academic, literature and civil service. They are those, who also enjoyed the same opportunities and are occupying strategic positions in government today but cannot offer the present generation a free and qualitative education. They increase tuition fees and underpay lecturers, leading to strike.

    I wonder how they expect our parents to afford such exorbitant fees. Worst of all, they send their children abroad to get the quality they cannot provide for us here. Hence, they develop another man country’s economy and education.

    They say always that Nigerian graduates are unemployable; they would bring in expatriates and pay them millions. They are quick to blame our higher institutions for churning out half-baked graduates. But, have they made efforts to fund these institutions adequately? What scholarship and resesarch opportunities for students and lecturers? Yet, the government invests huge sum in entertainment industry as if that is the essence of our nation.

    Whatever happens to Cowbell Mathematics Competition and Zain Africa University Challenge, where students exchange ideas and challenge themselves in academic contest? Project Fame, Nigerian Idols, Big Brother, X-Factor and so on are in vogue today.

    The managements of higher institutions have shares in the blame too. What have they done with project thesis submitted by undergraduate and post-graduate students? These are supposed to be the yardstick to gauge our progress in innovations, education and development. Why would a university give contract to outsiders to build solar-powered panels and inverters when such school has a functional Faculty of Engineering?

    The youth deserve some credit for embracing technology and innovation to drive positive changes in the country. With technological advancement, we now have young people achieving more these days because the situation has taught us to fight for our own survival, which has made us to be creative, innovative and think beyond the classroom.

    The 21st Century is an era of pressure and distraction. The unnecessary pressure to perform like our peers in developed countries, pressure to pass exams while in school, communal pressure, economic pressure, pressure to meet up with certain societal standards, competition for the limited spaces available have woken the youth up from slumber.

    I think the government deliberately leaves our education sector to rot away because in all these, the people in public office seem not to be bothered. The only redemption, however, is to bring back the fortunes of the system as it were in the past. If the government, tertiary institutions and corporate organizations could pool resources together, things will change for the better. With the large number of students struggling to gain admission into the university, we need to expand the facilities available and build new ones to cater for this ever increasing population.

    Education is vital and key to our growth as a nation. As John Dewey said, education is not preparation for life; it is life itself.

     

    Habib, 400-Level Communication and Language Arts, UI

  • Education emergency

    The recent demand for the declaration of an education emergency in Nigeria was unique for the unified vision of those who made it. It was jointly made by the four foremost unions in the tertiary education sector – the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), the National Association of Academic Technologists (NAAT), the Non-Academic Staff Union of Universities and Associated Institutions (NASU), and the Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities (SSANU).

    Claiming that education in the country was riddled with poor funding, inadequate leadership, and infrastructural decay, the four unions said that a non-negotiable public good had been perverted by a socio-economic system in which the maximisation of profit and the primacy of personal interest had become dominant.

    The unions obviously have a point. Nigeria’s education sector, especially its tertiary component, has been badly hit by a multi-dimensional crisis of gargantuan proportions. The country has an adult literacy rate of only 51.1 per cent; the gross enrollment ratio of the population of tertiary school age is just 10 per cent; an average of 5.25 years is spent by Nigerians in school. About 10.5 million of its children are out of school, the highest number in the world. As if that is not bad enough, young Nigerians seeking education have been directly targeted by insurgent groups like Boko Haram, resulting in repeated atrocities, such as those of Buni Yadi and Potiskum, in which dozens of students have died or suffered severe injury.

    Well-intentioned though the demands of ASSU, NAAT, NASU and SSANU may be, however, there is the question of whether such an emergency will actually achieve anything substantial. Nigeria is no stranger to education summits of varying levels of depth and comprehensiveness. In 2006, former President Olusegun Obasanjo convened an education summit in Abuja, bringing together senior government officials, policy makers and other concerned stakeholders. In November 2012, the BRACED Commission comprising Bayelsa, Rivers, Akwa Ibom, Cross River, Edo and Delta states organised an education summit for the region. In May 2013, Lagos State held the third in its series of education summits.

    At all of these gatherings, many of the issues confronting the sector were identified and exhaustively analysed. Impassioned declarations were given. Targets were set. Promises were made. Timelines were drawn up. In the end, not much changed, as the main drivers for education reform actually came from the individual efforts of the states, especially Lagos, Rivers, Anambra, Akwa Ibom and Kano. In these states, successive administrations have taken it upon themselves to implement comprehensive rehabilitation and expansion of their educational systems, especially at the primary and secondary levels. New classrooms have been built, more teachers trained and recruited, and greater rewards and incentives provided.

    But they can only do so much. The education crisis is a national one, and must be addressed at that level. The declaration of an education emergency could provide the vital national scope which would help ensure that any reform is evenly spread across the country.

    However, if it is to work, it must be divorced from the political grandstanding that has disfigured similar strategies in the past. A viable education emergency cannot be an arena for point-scoring, propaganda, or blame games. It cannot be aimed at furthering the agenda of any one group, be it government, union or corporate, to the detriment of the others and the country as a whole.

    The issues have been identified, the action steps are ready, and the solutions are known. What is required is the strength of will and determination to follow through on the undertakings that will inevitably be made. Perhaps the best way of achieving this could be to distill the successes of specific states into a template for the nation as a whole; by focusing on what works, it will be that much easier to move from speech to action.