DigitalSENSE Business News:
Indeed, from the lips of emeritus professor and former Vice Chancellor of the University of Ibadan, Professor Ayo Banjo; Publisher of Vanguard newspapers, Mr. Sam Amuka; it was lamentations galore as they decried the sorry state of the education sector in the world’s largest black nation.
Speaking in Lagos at a lecture “The Future of Nigerian Education” to mark the 20th anniversary of Tanus Communications and public presentation of 110 primary, junior secondary and senior secondary school textbooks and classic series published by the company.
Notable personalities at the agenda setting event included former Governor of Ogun State, Aremu Segun Osoba; former Governor of Cross River State, Mr. Donald Duke; Dr Doyin Abiola; Professor Oye Ibidapo-Obe; Mr Tunji Bello; Olorogun Sunny Kuku; John Edozien and Professor Stephen Uche.
Amuka, who chaired the occasion, opened the floodgates of lamentations, saying “There is no doubt at all that education has degenerated but considering my observation as an old man, it has gotten to a stage that I can say that those things that happened in the past were better than what we are experiencing today, though there are few exceptional cases like communication, which has improved over the years.
“But for education, it is sad that there are many habits, which we now observe which did not happen in the past and I am talking about two, three generations behind. Cheating during exams was not there when I was in school but it is now the norm. The universities have no more confidence in the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) and, therefore, they insist on conducting their own exams.
“Let me relate another personal experience. I am an employer of labour and I enjoin you to go through any newspaper in the country, where you will find out that all the workers are graduates yet you will not find any of the newspapers free of grammatical errors, which are quite embarrassing.
“And I would say to you, don’t blame the newspapers, blame the institutions. We also have a situation whereby people do not read and if publishers depend on sale of books, they will die of hunger. The lecture is a very important topic because we all have something to learn and take away from the occasion.”
How we started derailing –Prof Ayo Banjo:
Delivering the lecture, Prof. Banjo, who, in a 20-page treatise, traced the history of Western education in Nigeria to the middle of the 19th century, lamented that the standard of education had fallen so low that urgent and emergency actions were needed.He noted that products of the primary education system of the early 20th century in the country spoke and wrote better English than their offspring of today, a point he argued is reflected in every other department of learning. He enumerated the factors, which boosted education in those days and those responsible for the prevailing decay.
The factors include: schools were supported by a network of well-trained teachers, who enjoyed higher status in society than their modern equivalents; Grade II teacher training colleges have now been phased out; fresh graduates doing their youth service, most of whom do not have teaching experience, are used as backbone of the teaching force in secondary schools; schools no longer have inspectorate divisions, which supervised and kept teachers on their toes; funding is inadequate and remuneration of teachers is poor.
He said “The co-existence of lack of proper training and absence of supervision is a recipe for the parlous situation in which the system finds itself today. The situation is that teaching has acquired a poor image and very few people now choose to be teachers. I am not aware that any teacher at the primary or secondary level in this country has ever won national honours.”
Banjo also x-rayed the decay at the secondary and tertiary subsectors and called for urgent reforms. He decried the implementation of the 6-3-3-4 system, which has defeated its primary aim of comprehensive education.
At the tertiary level, he lamented that irregular calendar had cut off Nigerian universities from the rest of the world, with the attendant low rating of the country’s tertiary institutions. He said it was sad that only three candidates scored above 300 marks in 2012 university matriculation examination.
To turn our education misfortunes around, Banjo said “All we need to do is look at our own history, at how the early primary and secondary schools, though few, were carefully nurtured, and how the University of Ibadan once came to be one of the 10 best universities in the Commonwealth, and learn appropriate lessons.”
DigitalSENSE Campus Pavilion spoke with some Nigerians during the holidays on the state of education sector.
Nancy Chimuaya, a student:
I think the Nigerian education sector should be given a serious attention because in the nearest future if care is not taken, it will deteriorate more. Take a look at the ASUU strikes that lasted for 6 months, it’s not good for a country like ours, a giant of Africa to have a poor educational system.
Augustus C. Ibechem, student, University of Nigeria,
Nsukka (UNN):
The Federal and State government should work hard to make 2014 for education to improve in Nigeria, if other governors will embark on truly free education, like Rochas Okorocha of Imo State and Kano state governor among others, I think education will improve.
Sammie Tosin, Correspondent
The education system is a fallout of the society and it could only remedy itself by good leadership and sincerity on the parts of lecturers and government. Government funding will not be a problem. For example, you cannot tell a government that cheated in exam and in election to come and fund the school he attended; he’ll tell you that the same people that were there during my time are still there and they will squandered the money, so no need.
So, we all need to be sincere with ourselves and let the generation to come know that educational is the key for any development in any given society and make reading a culture.
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