The Nation Newspaper

Tag: Education

  • Int’l Literacy Day: What Nigerians say

    Int’l Literacy Day: What Nigerians say

    For over 40 years, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation, (UNESCO) has been celebrating the International Literacy Day as a human right and foundation,  with the aim of promoting literacy skill globally. But how well has this been actualised? What is the level of literacy in Nigeria? Samson Hope  and Olamilekan Fakoyejo sought the views of some Nigerians on this and more.

    The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation, (UNESCO) described literacy as a right and a foundation for lifelong learning, better well-being and a driver for sustainable and inclusive development.

    But some Nigerians feel that this might just be a far cry from what is presently the case in the country, as the literacy level is still very low as compared to what is obtainable in other climes.

    Atumeyi Uwanni, security manager in a Lagos based firm, is of the view that the level of literacy in Nigeria is low and as such there is nothing really important about celebrating the day, “There is a great difference between the northern and western part of the country. The northern part is faced with chaotic challenges, war, conflicts and others. Christianity was brought about by western education, so there’s no how an educated person can be cajoled into killing his fellow human being and inherits an eternal life. There is nothing to celebrate on this day because the level of terrorism caused by illiteracy is high.”

    Linking the current Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) strike and the commemoration of the international day of literacy, Uwani queried, “How can we celebrate Literacy Day in Nigeria with the present situation of ASUU strike that has been running for months? The government is not willing to spend on education, instead, they are politicking the issue. So what is it that has been accomplished to be celebrated for, compared to other countries?”

    He spoke further: “It is not a day to celebrate; it should be a day of mourning for lack of proper education in this country. If other countries are doing it, we shouldn’t because education is all about invention, and we have not invented anything. Instead we make use of their used items like cars, aeroplane and others.”

    Andrew Bini, a diction instructor at Drew company concept, believes that the literacy level is not as it should be, “I wouldn’t say we have done well for now because the level of  literacy in Nigeria is not very high. The recent administration through a project tried to bring back the book initiative as a medium where people can get educated and increase the level of literacy, but it died before it all started. So I feel it should be marked but the effect of Literacy is not as it should.”
    On his part, Tosin Alli-Balogun, a presenter with Eko FM believes that “If a country is well educated and groomed, then, it will really affect the country in all ramifications.”

    Expressing his views about the word literacy, Chris Obodo, a lecturer at the Nigerian Institute of Journalism (NIJ) explained that literacy transcends reading, writing and other way of acquiring knowledge. It is the ultimate investment of any country in the future. It comes in terms of cultural value and social economic development plans.

    Speaking on his views about the literacy level in Nigeria, Jack Amaso, also of NIJ said: “I don’t have any data or statistics to comment on, but on assumption, I think we are low.’

    Femi Osuntoki, Broadcast lecturer, NIJ said, literacy goes beyond going to school to earn a degree, but the ability to think by yourself, develope your skill, know what to do, how to do it, and when to do it. The essence of it is to ensure adult could be able to read, write their names and think critically, “When you know when to talk, it means you are literate. So it goes beyond school; because when you hear a primary school student talk sometimes, you will think he or she is mature than their age. This literacy day is focused on adult, but these adults make use of their skill to hack, steal, and embezzle,” he explained.

    For Jide Johnson, Head of Department, Mass Communication, NIJ, the literacy level in Nigeria is improving considering the number of graduates that the country produces every year, “We are getting better than where we were at independence,” he said.

    He added, “The number of Nigerian students that have at least a school certificate in Nigeria is high, so you would agree with me that the literacy level is getting better. And it has helped the country develop slowly.”

    But why do people need literacy skills? How is literacy shaped by culture, history, language, religion and socio-economic conditions? What are the impacts of technological advancement on literacy? Is it possible to determine in a diverse world a minimum set of basic literacy skills? These are some of the questions that UNESCO seeks to find answers to.

    No wonder then that this year’s International Literacy Day is dedicated to “literacies for the 21st century” to highlight the need to realize “basic literacy skills for all” as well as equip everyone with more advanced literacy skills as part of lifelong learning.

    As an organization that believes that literacy is at the heart of basic education for all, and essential for eradicating poverty, reducing child mortality, curbing population growth, achieving gender equality and ensuring development, peace and democracy, UNESCO has been at the forefront of providing basic literacy skills and equips everyone with more advanced literacy skills as part of lifelong learning.

    Speaking on this year’s occasion, the Director General, UNESCO, Irina Bokova, said: “Literacy is much more than an educational priority-it is the ultimate investment in the future and the first step towards all the new forms of literacy required in the 21st Century where every child is able to read and use this skill to gain autonomy.”

  • Education and democracy: training the future generation 1

    Education and democracy: training the future generation 1

    A popular government without popular information or the means of acquiring it is but a prologue to Farce or Tragedy or perhaps both. Knowledge will forever govern ignorance, and a people who mean to be their own Governors must arm themselves with the power of knowledge.- James Madison
    There is but one method of rendering a republican form of government durable, and this is by disseminating the seeds of virtue and knowledge through every part of the state by means of proper places and modes of education and this can be done effectively only by the aid of the legislature.—Benjamin Rush
    It is only when the minds of men have been properly and rigorously cultivated and garnished, that they can be safely entrusted with public affairs with a certainty and assuredness that they will make the best of their unique opportunity and assignment.-Obafemi Awolowo

    Today’s piece is the first of a series on an issue that should be of serious concern to lovers of a united and progressive Nigeria: educating and training those who are to keep Nigeria going. The three quotations overleaf by two of United States of America’s founding fathers and one of Nigeria’s founding fathers capture the themes that circumscribe the articles on education and democracy in this column for the next few weeks.

    Given the arguments— pros and cons— that attended to the recent strike by the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), it should not require a great measure of brilliance on the part of the average Nigerian that the country is not giving enough attention to the most important ingredient that can sustain its unity and predispose it to sustainable democracy and development. When government spokespersons rest their argument against provision of credible higher education on lack of funds, the average citizen needs to get worried about what awaits his or her children in a country that is a part of a modern world driven by knowledge. The articles planned for the next few weeks are designed to express concerns about the way to provide proper education that can keep our country together as a democratic federation in a global political and economic ethos that is driven by freedom and innovation.

    Some of the questions once asked by Bertrand Russell and John Dewey will be repeated in the series, with the hope of stimulating discussion on what true patriots of our country need to worry about as they prepare their younger ones for life beyond them in a country that appears to have been at the crossroads for too long with respect to how best to educate the citizenry in a highly competitive global environment. Put simply, the issue that education has a role in making democracy a workable system and that democracy has a role in making education profitable to the individual and the community in which he or she lives will be repeated in the discussion in the next few weeks on what the government and the citizen need to do to save the country’s democracy and federation.

    Nigeria is not without its own thinkers and doers in the area of systematic promotion of the symbiosis between education and democracy. Chief ObafemiAwolowo and Chief AdekunleAjasin in particular had given deep thought to the role of education in nation building and in the making of a modern and progressive nation and citizenry. The initiation and funding of free primary public education in Western Nigeria in 1955 demonstrated and still demonstrates Chief Awolowo’s conviction that democracy might be a mirage if citizens (voters) are not educated. Using proceeds from taxes, initially paid grudgingly by citizens, as well as from proceeds from lottery in the 1950s to fund primary public education at a time when there was no trace of petroleum certainly underscores a rare commitment to education as a means of sustaining democracy and a way to prepare citizens for a meaningful life in the era of modernity.

    Most of the citizens from the Western part of Nigeria in the generation of this writer are largely products of Awolowo’s free primary education provided by a combination of properly coordinated public and private or sectarian schools in the 1950s. In the assessment of nationals and foreigners in the field of higher education, there were few, if at all, complaints about the quality of education in Nigeria until the late 1970s or early 1980s. Education started to decline in Nigeria under military autocracy between 1983 and 1999. It should not surprise anyone if military dictators had no use for education for citizens, on account of the fact, that a highly educated citizenry could become too critical of authoritarianism. But there is no reason why an elected government should be afraid of giving proper education to citizens during a period of democratic rule. However, the quality of education in the last fourteen years of post-military rule has not improved considerably for citizens to believe that Nigerian military dictators are more averse to educated citizenry than elected civilians that succeeded them in 1999.

    The parlous state of education in the country at present recalls the Yoruba proverb: Oro sunukunojusunukun la fi n wo o. This translates roughly in English to a desperate problem requires a desperate solution. Providing the right type of education to sustain Nigeria’s democracy, development, and federation certainly calls for creative thinking on the part of all stakeholders: parents, students, federal, state, and local governments, and most especially the legislative branch of government at all levels. Attempting to amend a constitution that is riddled with confusion in respect of creating an educational culture and system in the country without paying any attention to how to re-design education in the country is similar to looking away from dealing with how to create a realistic and efficient security system in the country.

    Like the issue of law enforcement, educating and training the Nigerian child to the point that he or she can feel safe, self-confident, emboldened to express his or her opinions and live by the wish of the majority in a competitive global environment requires more than expressions of commitment to the promotion of a knowledge society in the country. It calls for fresh and deep thinking on how to create an educational system or systems that can support aspirations of Nigerians to thrive in the modern global market. Consigning education to the realm of buck passing and bashing the professoriate may not solve the problems that have contributed in large parts to Nigeria being 145th on the Global Competitive Index and being 146th on account of poor primary education in the country. It is the legislature at all levels and the civil society across state borders that must lead a new discussion on the way forward, while lovers of inclusive political and economic institutions in the country pay attention to the need for a new strategy on how to educate Nigeria’s citizens.

  • ‘Make nursery education compulsory’

    In educationist and board member of the Rivers State Universal Basic Education Board (RSUBEB), Mr Ugochukwu Worluh, has urged the Federal Government to make nursery education compulsory.

    Speaking after attending an educational summit in Finland, Worluh said the Finnish have the best graduates in the world because they ensure their citizens get a solid foundation. If made compulsory, Worluh said nursery education could reduce crime, especially among the less-privileged children who do not have access to quality pre-school education.

    Mr. Lucky said: “I want the Federal Government to emulate what the wife of the Rivers State Governor Dame Judith Amaechi is doing. She has a pet project on kindergarten education; it was not financed by the government but it is the best project in the world because of its importance in the future of this country.

    “The rich send their children to the best nursery schools in the world before allowing them to be admitted into primary school. What of the children of the poor? Yet many have not recognised the efforts of the wife of the governor in establishing kindergarten schools in all the local Government areas in the state.”

    He added: “The best way to fight crime in our society is to toe the line of Judith Amaechi to give our children the best education as a social capital development which Rivers State children are enjoying today. Government at all levels must declare compulsory kindergarten education if in future, we must sleep with our two eyes closed.”

     

  • UBEC urges states to step up effort on Special Education

    UBEC urges states to step up effort on Special Education

    States have been urged to complement efforts of the Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC) on Special Education.

    The Acting Executive Secretary UBEC Prof Charles Onocha spoke at the commission’s Ninth quarterly meeting with chairmen of State Universal Basic Education Boards (SUBEB) in Minna, Niger State.

    Onocha implored states to establish more Special Education schools, release more funds and create Special Education units in mainstream schools, among others.

    He said: “States should complement the efforts of the Federal Government by creating more access to basic education for children with special needs. This can be achieved through increased funding, advocacy/sensitisation, creating Special Education units/schools as well as adopting the inclusive education initiative where all children learn in the same school environment.

    A situation where a state has only one or two schools for special needs children cannot create adequate access. The inclusive initiative has to be adopted if the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and Education for All (EFA) goals are to be achieved.”

    On Almajiri Education Programme (AEP) by the Federal Government, Onocha said the Almajiris who are over nine million not attending school, pose a threat to the realisation of EFA and MDGs.

    He added that with the AEP, they would be integrated into the UBEC programme, which involves 25 states. He added that the Federal Government has mandated the Commission to start recruitment of teachers.

    Out of the 25 states, Onocha said six have been penciled for advocacy visits by the Commission’s National Implementation Committee to interact with their governors; and also for capacity building of school proprietors and teachers.

    He stressed that in the implementation of the AEP, states are expected, to: “adopt and replicate the programme, including the construction of Almajiri model schools; recruit and deploy teachers to those schools; integrate Alarammas/Mallams/Proprietors into the Programme; and adopt appropriate mechanisms for the enrolment of Almajiri into the schools.

    Other conditions include to: “provide school uniforms for the enrolled pupils; include feeding as a retention strategy; maintain the infrastructural facilities and ensure the sustainability of the school.”

    Highlighting some strides taken by the commission since April this year, Onocha said UBEC has between 2005 and June 12, received N215.63 billion as matching grants and disbursed N172.04 billion to the states and FCT, which he put at 79.78 per cent access.

    According to him, the Federal Government Statutory Allocation of UBE Matching Grants to each state and FCT is 1,030,797,297.30 based on the 2013 Appropriation Act.

    He, however, said the allocation may change subject to the approval by the National Assembly on the amendment to the Appropriation ACT as requested by President Goodluck Jonathan.

    He implored each SUBEB to be proactive by preparing Action Plans and sourcing for the requisite counterpart funds based on the Matching Grant, adding that the outcome of the proposed amendment, would be communicated to them, as appropriate.

    He said the commission in the interim has received N11411,974,455.88 per state (including FCT) as provisional allocation which covers the first quarter and part of second quarter of the current year.

    He therefore enjoined states to make available their counterpart funds and meet other conditions to access the allocation.

    In his breakdown of access and utilization of Special Education Fund (SEF) between 2009 and 2012, he said 13 states accessed the fund in 2012; 24 states, including the FCT in 2011; 32 states and FCT in 2010 as well as 34 states and FCT in 2009.

    Onocha said Bayelsa, Cross River, Enugu, and Kaduna defaulted in accessing the fund in 2010, while only Bayelsa and Enugu defaulted in the year 2009.

    Onocha said the commission has disbursed the 2012 SEF to 81 private providers in 27 states and the FCT.

    On Teacher Professional Development (TPD) programme, Onocha said the commission mounted various programmes through training institutions selected by the SUBEBs. He said each state received N140 million from the commission for the exercise, which was executed in 32 states including the FCT.

     

  • ANCOPSS lauds Okorocha’s stride in education sector

    The National Executive Council (NEC) of the Confederation of Principals of Secondary Schools (ANCOPSS has lauded the efforts of the Imo State Governor, Rochas Okorocha, in improving the standard of education in the state.

    The body in a communiqué issued at the end of its NEC meeting held at the Teachers’ House, Owerri, the Imo State capital, scored the governor and other stakeholders in the state’s education sector high mark for ensuring the attainment of laudable achievements recorded so far in the sector.

    In the communiqué signed by its National President and Public Relations Officer respectively, Dr Fatima Abdulrahman and Alhaji Illiyasu Kirim, ANCOPSS, also described entrepreneurship studies as a possible solution to the contemporary issues of youth unemployment and poverty eradication in the country.

  • Do we want school or education? (2)

    Many other suppressed feelings are similarly stored. If you had the power, what do you wish had been your childhood now? What do you want for our children?

    I wonder, therefore, if we might not usefully take some time to reconceive our concept of education and how it might be delivered in the world that must now rapidly emerge, so that education might play a useful role in shaping that emergence.

    So here is my idea. First, I am going to assume that each child has the potential to achieve self-realisation and to define this, simply, as the capacity to reach its full potential. To do this, it will need to develop a powerfully integrated mind in which mental functions such as sensing, thoughts, feelings, memory and conscience work together seamlessly so that the child can act with initiative, conviction and courage. And, of course, this can only happen in an environment in which the child is nurtured as a whole person. This child will be able to engage in a deep critique of society and to then courageously participate in the nonviolent struggle to renew human civilisation in accord with our highest ideals however these manifest in each society, given its unique history, ecological foundation and set of cultural relations.

    ‘This is ambitious’, you are thinking pessimistically. Of course it is, if you are still trapped in that childhood classroom. But let’s get out of it!

    Each child is genetically programmed to be highly functional: able to sense an enormous amount from its surroundings, to feel, to think, to use memory and conscience as necessary. And to learn at an incredibly rapid rate; for example, children in many parts of the world learn several languages simultaneously at a very young age (without going to school to do so). But, mostly, we get in the way of children learning, without meaning to do so. How? Simply by not listening when a child tells us what it needs and wants. Given a choice, I believe that no self-aware child would go to school for more than a day (unless it was doing so to escape a more dysfunctional environment at home).

    If we lived in communities, rather than nuclear families, that nurtured each child by listening to it, provided it with opportunities to learn knowledge and skills that enhanced individual and community self-reliance relevant to its future (such as permaculture, participation in group decision-making and conflict resolution processes), and which gave it the chance to learn contextually (whether reading, writing, relevant mathematics, geography, agricultural practices, political economy, tool-making, healthcare or anything else) as it participated in community activities, then each child would be spared the boredom we suffered and have the opportunity to realise its ‘true self’. Moreover, by living in a wider community, our own shortcomings as parents and teachers (including any tendencies to be violent) would be diluted by the immediate presence of other adults/teachers. And we would dilute any shortcomings of theirs.

    Do you think your street and neighbourhood could be a community? If you would like to consider one model for this type of future, which takes into account ecological imperatives, you are welcome to consider participating in ‘The Flame Tree Project to Save Life on Earth’ –

    The tragic reality of human life is that few people value the awesome power of the individual Self with an integrated mind (that is, a mind in which memory, thoughts, feelings, sensing, conscience and other functions work together in an integrated way) because this individual will be decisive in choosing life-enhancing behavioural options (including those at variance with social laws and norms) and will fearlessly resist all efforts to control it or coerce it with violence.

    •Burrowes is the author of ‘Why Violence?’

    http://tinyurl.com/whyviolence. His email address is flametree@riseup.net and his website is at http://robertjburrowes.wordpress.com

    Concluded

  • Girl beats 2,134 others in essay contest

    From the 2,135 entries for the Mike Okonkwo National Essay Competition for Secondary Schools, the essays by Folatomi Alli-Balogun of Vivian Fowler Memorial College for Girls in Lagos have been adjudged the best.

    Chief Examiner of the competition, Prof Akachi Ezeigbo, said Folatomi was skillful in her writing.

    The Professor of English at the University of Lagos (UNILAG), added that apart from scoring the highest mark of 80 per cent in the second stage of the competition, Folatomi, “writes with confidence and her ideas and diction are apt and quite appealing. Any reader of the work will detect surface modesty in her expression, but underneath lies great sophistication of thought which comes out effortlessly in her presentation. It is obvious that the skill she has shown in both stages of the competition is the result of her own effort.”

    Mark Nwanbiankea of the Lagos State Senior Model College, Badore came second with 75 per cent, while Samuel Edet of Government Technical College, Calabar, Cross River State came third.

    Folatomi will be rewarded with N100,000 and a laptop, and three computers and a printer for her school at the 14th edition of the Mike Okonkwo Annual Lecture on September 5 at the Muson Center, Onikan.

    Nwanbiankea will get N75,000 and two computers and a printer for his school; while Edet will receive N50,000 and computer for his school.

    A consolation price of N20,000 will be given to two other finalists of the competition.

    The lecture titled: “Overcoming the Nigerian security challenges: A panacea for national growth and development,” will be delivered by Dr Kalu Idika Kalu, a former Minister of Finance.

     

  • Group advocates transparency in education finance

    A Non-Profit Organisation- ‘Linking the Youth of Nigeria through eXchange’ (LYNX-Nigeria), is seeking transparency and accountability in financing education.

    The Project coordinator, Mr Victor Adejoh, spoke at the end of a three-day national training for organisations in the education sector in Osogbo, Osun State capital.

    Adejoh called on the government to promote effective accountability and transparency in implementation of the education budget.

    No fewer than 40 stakeholders drawn from Enugu, Kaduna, Plateau and Osun states participated in the programme.

    He said there was a need to ensure accountability and transparency in the sector’s service delivery, especially at the basic level to justify the huge investment by the government in the sector.

    He said: “The monitoring of budget process is key to a better future for Nigerian children and youths as they will form ties with the executive and legislative bodies, to enhance the relationship between young people and government and improve communication and dialogue for advancement in the education system.”

    He raised vital issues to be addressed in the sector, including the current decay in the system, adding that if the challenges were not tackled, they will have a long term effects, not only on children and youths but on the future of the country.

    He said: “It is imperative that public office holders are held accountable for spending in the education sector. If the sector is not saved from its present state, children and young people will become delinquent and a menace to society.

    “If education is not put to standard, more Nigerians will seek education elsewhere thereby increasing brain-drain and exporting of cash which puts the economy of the nation in danger. Education must not only be functional; it must also be relevant to the needs of young people and to the nation.”

    He continued: “Civic education and community engagement are critical aspects of children and young persons’ development and should be fully integrated into the curriculum. The monitoring of budgets and spending in the education sector will increase efficiency and outcomes for improved learning and productive students.

    “Children and young people must become aware of their right to education and demand for quality education as their fundamental human right.”

    Besides, the delegates for the training demanded that the local, state and the federal government engage in participatory budgeting, carrying their constituencies along from the inception and creation process to the finalisation of the budget. They also said the local, state and federal government should make known the draft copy of budgets before final publications for implementation.

    “Communities must participate in the formation, approval, execution and monitoring and evaluation stage of budgeting. Public office holders in the education sector should make the accessing of budgets and expenditure easy quarterly. The public office holders should sign and document contracts they award to enable effective monitoring, transparency and accountability in the sector,” they demanded.

     

  • Afenifere decries govt’s neglect of education

    Afenifere decries govt’s neglect of education

    Afenifere Renewal Group (ARG) has decried Federal Government’s neglect of public education.

    The group, in a statement yesterday by its Media/Publicity Secretary, Mr. Kunle Famoriyo, said: “We of the Afenifere Renewal Group (ARG) note that although the education sector got the highest percentage of budgetary allocation in the 2013 Appropriation Act, we are yet to see this allocation translate into tangible results in our federal tertiary institutions. “Rather, the strike embarked upon by the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) has entered the second month, with no end in sight.

    “The sector got N367.375 billion for recurrent expenditure and N60.207 billion for capital expenditure. This translates to N427.582 billion, representing 7.9 per cent of the total budget.

    “In 2012, the sector got N397.378 billion, representing 8.5 per cent of the total budget.

    “Despite these high allocations, the sector has seen no improvement, an evidence of government’s insensitivity to the plight of the people and its ineptitude in managing the nation’s resources for the greater good.

    “We are also witnessing misplaced priority in this sector. Between 2010 and now, the Federal Government has spent about N32.8 billion on printing primary school textbooks and procuring library resources, a project that has borne no commensurate impact, according to an investigative article, headlined: “Many Problems of Fed Govt’s Textbook Project,” published in The Nation recently.

     

     

     

     

     

  • Education: JAF, ERC urge Labour to call for protest

    The Joint Action Front (JAF) in collaboration with the Education Rights Congress (ERC) has called on the organised labour, under the aegis of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and the Trade Union Congress (TUC), to support a mass protest against the rot in the education sector by calling out workers on a two-day strike

    JAF’s Secretary, Comrade Abiodun Aremu, who led the rally in Lagos, said his group would collaborate with other civil society groups in Nigeria to shut down the nation if concerned authorities fail to give urgent attention to its yearning.

    He said: ’’Top civil servants and those close to the corridors of power were the beneficiaries of public education, even as some of them established private universities and private schools in Nigeria and abroad with looted funds.”

    ‘’That explains why they are not bothered when Public primary, secondary and tertiary institutions are shut, and pupils and students have to remain at home for a long as the unions are frustrated to resume without government acceding to their legitimate demands’’

    Aremu, who lamented that Nigeria is funding education with less than eight per cent,in contravention international standard of 26 per cent for same, said: “The unions in the education sector are on strike because the Federal and state governments in the country refused to implement agreements reached with them.”

    According to him, teachers and non-teaching staff are the poorest paid in the world, while the nation’s politicians received the fattest pay among their contemporaries.

    The rally, which kicked off at the NLC’s office, Yaba, Lagos and ended at Maryland , had personalities, such as Treasurer of Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), Comrade Ademola Aremu, President of Academic Staff Union of Polytechnics (ASUUP), Comrade Chibuzor, former Governorship aspirant in Lagos, Comrade Ayodele Akele and union heads in College of Educations.

    The National Coordinator of the Education Rights Congress (ERC), Comrade Hassan Taiwao-Soweto, while commending the stakeholders in the education sector for their doggedness to uphold the struggle to free education sector from poor funding by the state, noting that the ongoing strike is a Nigerian concern and not that of ASUU alone.

    He, however, appealed to the leadership of the NLC and the TUC to also lend a voice to the agitation by calling out workers on a 48 national strike in solidarity with students, lecturers and the public.