The Nation Newspaper

Tag: Public Schools

  • 31% of Sokoto teachers ‘unqualified’

    No fewer than 31 per cent per cent of public schools teachers in Sokoto State are unqualified,  Chairman, Sub-committee on state of emergency in the education sector Dr. Shadi Sabeh has said.

    He said the teachers were, however, trainable and their qualifications would be consolidated to fit them into the classrooms.

    This was part of the recommendation the committee submitted to Governor Aminu Waziri Tambuwal.

    The committee is expected to proffer solutions to challenges in the education sector.

    Further, the committee recommended the employment of 548 teachers more to achieve a teacher/student ratio of 1:40, the standard set for public schools.

    Presenting the report at Government House, Sabeh, said a total of 360 schools were assessed, adding that it discovered an imbalance in teachers’ distribution, especially between rural and urban areas.

    “There’s need to repost 537 teachers from some schools that are over-staffed within the Sokoto metropolis to the many that are lacking teachers in rural areas,” Sabeh said.

    According to him, another area of concern is the need to boost Information Communication Technology (ICT) infrastructure in schools as 73 per cent of teachers surveyed lacked computer skills.

    “The government must enforce compliance with Federal Government’s directives that all teachers must be registered with the Teachers Registration Council of Nigeria (TRCN). At the moment, only 14 per cent of the teachers have the necessary registration”.

    He added: “In general, there is an ardent and urgent need for a robust capacity building programme that will close the training gap among teachers in the state. This is against the backdrop that 90 per cent of teachers surveyed have not attended any form of training, workshop and seminar in the last three years.”

    Tambuwal assured that the report would be implemented, while other measures put in place to ensure a turnaround in the fortunes of the sector.

    He said a new training schedule would be drawn up by the government to ensure all teachers are provided with opportunities for refresher courses.

    “I want to commend the members of the sub-committee for a diligent job. The people and government of Sokoto State will forever be proud of your service,” he added.

     

  • Lagos kicks-off campaign on drug abuse in public schools

    Lagos kicks-off campaign on drug abuse in public schools

    The Lagos State government yesterday flagged-off a sensitization programme on drug abuse in public schools within its education districts across the state.

    At a press briefing by Commissioner for Youth and Social Development, Mrs Uzamat Akinbile-Yussuf said the aim of the campaign was to curb illicit consumption of drug, cultism and other social vices among school children.

    She said: “Studies have shown that children with poor academic performance and inappropriate social behaviour at ages seven to nine, are more likely to be involved with substance abuse by age 14 or 15.

    “Meanwhile, drug abuse among school children may affect them to become major perpetrators of crime as a result of mental disorders as they grow up. On the part of our government, many efforts have been tailored towards curbing this illicit drug use, cultism and other social vices among school children.

    She urged parents to ensure proper monitoring of their children, noting that parental supervision of children has a critical role to play in ensuring moderation of their conduct.

    “The risk of becoming drug and other substance abusers become evident at different stages of a child’s life. For example, early risks such as out-of control aggressive behavior may be seen in a very young child. If not addressed through positive parental actions, this behaviour can lead to additional risk when the child enters school,” Akinbile-Yussuf added.

    A youth activist and consultant, Baye Adebowale urged the state government and other regulatory authorities to check exposure of children to lewd and vulgar music videos of Nigerian hip hop artistes.

  • Edo govt bans use of schools, roads for social events

    The Edo State government has banned the use of the premises of public schools, roads and other public places for social events.

    The Commissioner for Communication and Orientation, Mr Paul Ohonbamu made the announcement on Wednesday in Benin in a statement issued to newsmen.

    He warned that violation of the ban would be dealt with in accordance with extant laws.

    He said that henceforth, the government would not condone those who flout the ban.

    The commissioner directed government agencies to ensure the ban is complied with.

    “By our ancestry as Edo people, we have always shown the example of public order and decency which others have emulated over the years.

    “This administration is determined to make Edo a model of magnificence and beauty once again,“ Ohonbamu said.

     

  • Osun introduces calisthenics in public schools

    The government of Osun State has announced that it will institutionalise calisthenics in all public schools as extra-curricular activities as part of the education interventions of Governor Rauf Aregbesola.

    While addressing journalists at a training workshop for coaches who are teachers in secondary schools in Osogbo, the state capital, Director, Department of Social, Grassroots Mobilisation and Guidance, Office of the Governor, Comrade Bayo Ojo said calisthenics in public schools has assisted in decimating social menace among students.

    The workshop had in attendance, Permanent Sectary, Ministry of Education, Mr Festus Olaide, Permanent Secretary, Local Government Loans Board Dr Oyeboade Olowogboyega and selected coaches from the nine federal constituencies.

    He said calisthenics has instilled discipline among the 22, 000 students drawn from 50 schools in the two local governments, Osogbo and Olorunda that have been participating in the programme since 2012.

    According to him, spreading the benefit of calisthenics on volunteer basis is, among others, to encourage school children to be physically strong, mentally sound, skilful, knowledgeable and socially oriented.

    Ojo said: “Calisthenics is an exercise that consists of varieties of rhythmic movements with different formations and compositions. Every participant is important to the success of the display which involved competence in coordination and management of complex situations.

    “Worthwhile training in the process is unity of purpose that compels participants to work towards a single objective, co-operation and team work that allows the participants learn to work in concert, realising that each must play his or her own part well in time, as each part, big or small, is equally important in attaining the set goals.”

    He explained that organisation, discipline and collective responsibilities involved in calisthenics are core values missing in Nigeria that has derailed the desired development of the country, arguing that if the young generation imbibed such values, Nigeria can be sure of a better future.

    To bring the game down to the grassroots, the state government is introducing selected schools as training centres in the nine federal constituencies and allows schools to take ownership of the programme as extra-curricular activities.

    Students from the public and interested private schools will constitute the calisthenics team of between 1,000 and 1,500 students that will participate in the state-wide competition that has trophy and financial rewards for the winners.

     

  • Lagos needs N60bn to revamp public schools – Ambode

    Lagos needs N60bn to revamp public schools – Ambode

    …Says N10bn already spent on rehabilitation

    …Reveals plan for a-meal-a-day programme

    Lagos State Governor, Mr. Akinwunmi Ambode has said that his administration would require about N60billion to give public schools in the State a befitting facelift as well as set up new schools especially in the riverine areas.

    The Governor, who said this during an interview with journalists, said though his administration has spent about N10billion in the last 22 months to boost the quality of education in the State, there was still a lot to be done in the sector.

    He said the State Government had carried out a study last year on the interventions needed in public schools and the construction of new ones, assuring that the funds set aside in the 2017 budget for education would be judiciously put to good use.

    “The result showed that we need about N60billion to put our schools together. But we have started the massive rehabilitation of our schools last year and you can go round to confirm. We expended about N10billion trying to put the worst set of schools back in place.

    “This year, a major intervention is also going to take place from our budget to see that at least let the existing schools even compete favourably with the private sector schools. That is the whole idea. I went to a public school and I must give back. Then, some of our riverine areas don’t really have schools. If you go to Ilashe and other places, there are no schools there and you see people taking canoes to go to school. So, that intervention is what we are also doing this year to see that there is continuous capital expenditure in public schools,” Ambode said.

    He said over 2300 qualified teachers have also being employed and posted across the various primary and secondary schools in the State to improve the performance of students, which according to him is already yielding results.

    Explaining the delay in the take off for the A-Meal-A-Day programme, the Governor said his administration was working towards a sustainable plan for the programme to cater for the eventual take off.

    He said that since the programme was a combination of resources from the Federal Government in partnership with State Governments, it was pertinent that the necessary funds to be provided to prevent hiccups after the take off.

    “Yes, it was in our manifesto but again in practical terms, we are still on it. The number of students in Lagos and the budgetary provision also do not really match for us to start. I don’t like a situation whereby we come out for two to three months and then stop.

    “I will like to sustain it when we start and don’t forget also that the project is a combination of resources from the Federal in partnership with State Governments. So, obviously in terms of provisions and resources, we in Lagos think we should have a long drawn sustainable plan and that is why we have not started it. What I can assure the people is that we are working on it,” Governor Ambode said.

     

  • Lagos receives 10,000 transfer applications for public schools

    The Lagos State Government has said it has received over 10,000 applications for transfer to public secondary schools in the state for the current academic session.

    A statement by the Assistant Director, Public Affairs at the Lagos State Ministry of Education, Adesegun Ogundeji, noted that the Permanent Secretary of the ministry, Mr Adesina Odeyemi, told parents during a meeting that the applications were not granted because the schools “are yet to have all the requisite materials to facilitate teaching and learning.”

    The parents, led by Mrs. Ramota Shamsideen, came to inquire why the transfer requests of their wards were not granted.

    She lamented that they were excluded from enjoying the good facilities the government had provided in some schools they visited.

    Odeyemi appealed to the parents and some pupils who came with them to bear with the government’s inability to absorb them this academic session. He explained that the government was expanding and renovating facilities in its schools to accommodate more pupils.

    Until the expansion and renovations are completed, Odeyemi said the government would not be able to accommodate more students into any of its schools.

    Mrs Shamsideen urged the government to give consideration to pupils seeking to transfer from private to public schools in the next academic session.

  • Recession: Parents withdraw children from private schools – Diete-Spiff

    As the recession bites harder, the founder of Charles Dale Memorial International School, Port Harcourt, Chief (Mrs.) Victoria Diete-Spiff, has lamented that parents were retrieving their children from private schools because of the economic crisis in the country.

    Diete-Spiff worried that parents were now taking their children to public schools adding that private schools were facing hard times.

    Diete-Spiff, who spoke after receiving Academic Icon Award from National Association of Oduduwa Students during the 10th Anniversary of the institution, also advocated for government to give grants to private schools in the country.

    The proprietor noted that private schools were the drivers of academic excellence in a nation and that they needed encouragement.

    Diete-Spiff said, “Most schools proprietors are anticipating that the recession is going to be rough. Most parents during this recession are having problem in connection to finance. Most of them are retrieving their children.

    “Private school is the bedrock of education in Nigeria and for somebody to withdraw his ward from private school it means a lot.

    “Government should improve the standard of education in Nigeria at least by providing grants for private schools. In other countries the government gives grants to private schools but it is not done here.

    “Government should do what needs to be done. Qualitative education is necessary because that is what the country needs to development.”

  • NGOs seek safety measures for public schools in Borno

    Following the abduction of over 200 Chibok girls in April 2014, schools safety became a major concern for stakeholders, including non-governmental organisations (NGOs), that have also joined the crusade to provide some security and safety tips for operations of schools in Borno State.

    A research by the Women Advocates Research and Documentation Centre (WARDC) with Gender Equality Peace and Development Centre (GEPaDC), on the security and safety of schools in Borno, has said a lot of gaps still existed in the security architecture of public schools in ensuring pupils’ safety.

    Presenting the report of the survey at a consultative forum on promoting safety and security of schools in the state, a co-researcher of the programme, Prof. Patricia Donli, noted that security of schools in the state is a key component of security as communications, mechanism, safety tips, emergency response measures etc still remain a challenge in the nation’s public schools.

    Speaking in Maiduguri, Donli, who is also the Executive Director of GEPaDC, said  questionnaire was administered across  various classes of people, including community leaders, teachers and pupils.

    Women Advocates Research and Documentation Centre (WARDC) Executive Director, Dr. Abiola Akiyode Afolabi, explained that WARDC and GEPaDC decided to come together and think toward providing a framework that would form at least a minimum standard for security and safety of pupils especially in the public schools for government to emulate.

    She said: “We feel people should have minimum knowledge like exit route, panic alert, fencing of schools etc. that are not expensive, yet can be done by schools that are committed.’’

    She said the programme, a pilot scheme designed to last for two years, was being implemented in three northern states – Kaduna, Bauchi and Borno, where three council areas of Chibok, Konduga and Maiduguri metropolis are.

     

  • Re: Towards overhauling Oyo public schools

    Sir: In his piece in The Nation yesterday, Dr. Gbade Ojo, the Chief of Staff to Oyo State Governor, Senator Abiola Ajimobi, tried to shed lights on the new education policy of the state government. The policy has led to misunderstanding between the government and the National Union of Teachers in the state. The latter believes that Ajimobi administration wanted to sell some public secondary schools to private interests, with the possibility of sacking teachers and introduce exorbitant fees in the schools.

    One of the effects of altercation between the government and the NUT was the public protest by secondary school pupils in Ibadan few weeks ago, which was accompanied by destruction of government property by the irate pupils.

    However, instead of agreeing that there was a communication gap between the government and the people of Oyo State, including the teachers, he put the blame on the door steps of the opposition, which is virtually non-existent in Oyo State.

    There is no doubt that Senator Ajimobi’s policies over the years have impacted positively on the state in spite of the pain that accompanied his policies. The Oyo State policy thrust on education cannot be different. What the government needs to do is to involve all stakeholders in education in the state and get them informed on workings of the system and the desideratum for it. If possible, town hall meetings could be organized on zonal basis. As a matter of fact, Ojo’s stated reasons for the introduction of the policy were impeccable and any sane person will know that education in Oyo State needs overhauling as the government is planning.

    Nonetheless, Ojo’s enumeration of the rubrics of the Oyo State policy thrust on education was one sided and therefore confusing. According to him, the two rubrics are introduction of development levy in public secondary schools and the plan to partner stakeholders in the management of some of the public secondary schools in the state. He gave the dwindling fortune of the Oyo State candidates in the WAEC results ranking over long period of time as the reason why the partnership is inevitable. He pointed out the steps that Ajimobi led government has taken to stem the tide, which include recruitment of teachers and non-teaching staff; 80% percent attendance for the students; cancellation of automatic promotion and the introduction of extra mural classes for pupils in JSS3 and SS3, introduction of N3,000 education levy and the payment of WAEC fees by parents, all in a bid to let the parents involve in the educational training of their wards.

    While Ojo succeeded in answering his fundamental question of “why is the need for partnership”, nevertheless, he has failed to address the major and contentious issue, that is, who are the targeted partners and what would be their role in the educational thrust policy of the state government? What would be their modus operandi? Simple explanation on this point would have allayed the fears of the concerned interests and garnered support for the Ajimobi led government efforts in reinvigorating education in Oyo State.

     

    • Adewuyi Adegbite

    ayekooto05@gmail.com

  • Oyo closes public schools

    Oyo closes public schools

    •No intention to privatise schools, says govt

    Oyo State yesterday ordered the closure of primary and secondary schools as “a way of protecting the lives and properties of the citizenry”.

    In a statement, the government said it took the decision following alleged “attempt by some members of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and the Nigeria Union of Teachers (TUC) to expose our staff and students to danger arising from the on-going court action against their members.

    The statement reads: “Today’s incident whereby some students and members of the public were once again coerced by labour to disrupt school sessions and engage in an unwarranted public protests and wanton destruction of property is highly condemnable.

    “Members of the public will recall that members of the two bodies (NLC and NUT) and their hired collaborators last week disrupted the stakeholders’ forum organised by the government on the proposed participatory management of some public secondary schools.

    “The decision of the leadership of the NLC to declare total strike without existing labour dispute or ultimatum to the government contravenes all known labour laws and conventions.

    “It is quite unfortunate that labour leaders at the national level, who ought to know better, also failed to avail themselves of the opportunity of meeting with officials of the state government to clear apparent misconceptions about the intention of the government.

    “The state government wishes to state for the umpteenth time that it never had any intention to privatise, commercialise or cede any of its public secondary schools to any individual or group.

    “Rather, the intention of the government is to partner willing stakeholders in the participatory management of a negligible number of the public secondary schools, which may not be more than 10 per cent of the existing 631 schools in the end.

    “Discussions are still ongoing with stakeholders on the matter and this informed the invitation extended to those concerned, including labour, NUT and other members of the public to come and contribute to the discourse before a final decision is taken by the government.

    “The unpatriotic role being played by the disgruntled labour leaders and their external collaborators will not proffer solution to the dilapidated state of infrastructure, poor performance of students in public examinations, low morale of teachers and unconducive teaching-learning environment”

    The state advised parents to warn their children and wards not to allow themselves to be used for any unlawful gathering or protest, because law enforcement agents have been placed on red alert to disperse any unlawful assembly.

    “Workers who have been directed to embark on strike over a matter that is still in the conception stage should have a rethink and report at their duty posts, while the government intensifies efforts to clear arrears of salary,” the statement said.