By Denrele Animasaun
If you think education is expensive, try ignorance. – Andy McIntyre
The saying goes: “Give me a child until he is seven, and I will give you the man”, the memo obviously got lost in transit prior to getting to Nigeria. If we cannot mould and prepare our young for the future then how can we then prepare them for adulthood or mould them into useful and productive citizens?
What we have instead, is perpetually feeding them a diet that lacks formal and informal training. For that we have produced a country full of capricious young adults who are ill equipped and cannot make any discernible contribution to Nigeria’s future. The state and federal government have not provided funds in real terms for equipment, technology and libraries to schools. Our country has failed miserably to invest in our young to give them a quality education that will set them up for the rest of their lives. This persistent neglect is robbing our young of any potential to grow, develop and improve their lot and most importantly lift most out of poverty.
We have got so embroiled in our daily greed, survival and hustle mode that we can’t see the woods for the trees. There is no easy way out, we will all suffer from this wanton neglect as Nigeria languishes in the doldrums and our young people are denied a useful and sustainable future. How can we complain of a country overran by murderers, vacuous individuals, rent-a-mob hoodlums, thieves and half-baked scammers? That’s what the country gets when it fails to educate its young.
The quality of a country’s educational system should be an effective indicator of the country’s progress, industrious and technological might. Above all, a good education breeds stable, rounded individuals, forward thinking, and a better standard of living for a progressive and civilized citizens and nation.
Recently, a head of a Lagos State secondary school, Ikeja Grammar School, was suspended for exposing the pitiful condition of students in her care; students were shown sitting on windows and concrete blocks in a classroom no better than a shed. Of course, the Lagos State Commissioner for Education was quick to defend the indefensible; that her ministry was aware of the issue of the bad furniture in the school. She quipped that the school will be supplied with furniture, this did not happen. She should have been sacked and her ministry summarily culled for their appalling treatment of students and schools. This is the norm and rather than the exception. Well, the federal and other state government needs to look across Osun State; if they can do it, so can every state up and down the country.
What our young people need is a quality assured educational system; up to date, an incentive bursary for trainee teachers and a good retention package for brilliant teachers, open and transparent examination and admissions of students to local schools.
Performance linked salary to retain exceptional head teachers, effective class size, efficient teaching and learning environment, standardized curriculum, satisfactory equipment and furniture, an independent school inspectoral body and most importantly, a free and accessible education to all young people regardless of class, religion and tribe.
About time!
Our people have a sense of displacement when it comes to reason. Edo State government recently sacked 836 teachers, I was astounded by the comments that followed; many were concerned about the timing of the sacking and not the fact that some teachers were not fully trained and have falsified their credentials, was not the main concern but that they should not have been sacked because they have lived a lie for so long! When something is wrong no matter who does it, it is wrong. The verification indicated that many of the teachers were not accredited to teach and you wonder why the quality of education is abysmal. Many I read that had over stayed and should have retired others years ago, there were some who were physically and psychologically unwell. Teaching is not an easy profession that is for sure.
Our people have a sense of displacement when it comes to reason. Edo State government recently sacked 836 teachers, I was astounded by the comments that followed; many were concerned about the timing of the sacking and not the fact that some teachers were not fully trained and have falsified their credentials, was not the main concern but that they should not have been sacked because they have lived a lie for so long! When something is wrong no matter who does it, it is wrong. The verification indicated that many of the teachers were not accredited to teach and you wonder why the quality of education is abysmal. Many I read that had over stayed and should have retired others years ago, there were some who were physically and psychologically unwell. Teaching is not an easy profession that is for sure.
The state commissioner for basic education, Patrick Aguinede, who confirmed the sack stated, “Those that have over-stayed in service gave a scenario that the state government could not recruit new teachers. “The teachers were found to have stayed above 35 years. Some were physically blind; some manipulated their results and age which later showed they finished school before they were born.” Only in Nigeria!
A change in the right direction for Kano
Governor Kwankwaso of Kano State has announced that “the commencement of the free education for all Kano State indigenes from primary, secondary and tertiary institutions starting from the new academic session in 2014.” And he added that “this is in addition to sponsoring of Kano indigenes to pursue their various degree programmes locally and internationally”. If this is truly above board and well-intended then it is very promising indeed. The governor has ear-marked the education sector the largest share of the sectoral allocation with over N20billion with Ministry of Education N15.22billion; while its ministry for Higher Education counterpart got N5.61billion and other policy programme in 2014 fiscal year under education include, N6.5 billion for the continuation work at Schools for Islamic Studies in each of the 44 LGAs. Here is looking forward to 2014 for Kano State.
Governor Kwankwaso of Kano State has announced that “the commencement of the free education for all Kano State indigenes from primary, secondary and tertiary institutions starting from the new academic session in 2014.” And he added that “this is in addition to sponsoring of Kano indigenes to pursue their various degree programmes locally and internationally”. If this is truly above board and well-intended then it is very promising indeed. The governor has ear-marked the education sector the largest share of the sectoral allocation with over N20billion with Ministry of Education N15.22billion; while its ministry for Higher Education counterpart got N5.61billion and other policy programme in 2014 fiscal year under education include, N6.5 billion for the continuation work at Schools for Islamic Studies in each of the 44 LGAs. Here is looking forward to 2014 for Kano State.
Now ASUU can go back to teaching our institutions of learning
In the UK, the economists calculate every day lost in terms of strike in actual and potential loss of earnings. But how do you begin to calculate the costs of the lost months of students and teachers of strike in Nigeria? I cannot begin to wonder how it must have been for those affected by the protracted strike. No one is the winner in fact, everyone lost out as result of this period. It means that it has set back families and students learning and earning by months and the country’s economy by years. And human misery is incalculable. I applaud ASUU for standing up to the FD bully and the state of mediocrity of expectations by our people and our leaders. Sometimes I wonder if the quality of education that we received in past has not been lost on these narrow minded kleptomaniacs.
In the UK, the economists calculate every day lost in terms of strike in actual and potential loss of earnings. But how do you begin to calculate the costs of the lost months of students and teachers of strike in Nigeria? I cannot begin to wonder how it must have been for those affected by the protracted strike. No one is the winner in fact, everyone lost out as result of this period. It means that it has set back families and students learning and earning by months and the country’s economy by years. And human misery is incalculable. I applaud ASUU for standing up to the FD bully and the state of mediocrity of expectations by our people and our leaders. Sometimes I wonder if the quality of education that we received in past has not been lost on these narrow minded kleptomaniacs.
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