National Stadium witnesses low key Children’s Day celebration

Children’s Day celebration at the National Stadium, Lagos was marked in low key. As it is often the tradition around the country, government officials stand to take ‘salute’ from children who march pass-by. This year’s celebration witnessed a conspicuous absence of government officials.

Less than 10 private primary schools attended the event. No public school was at the stadium. This seems to show the level of government inconsistent commitment to childhood education. Of the private schools that attended, coordination was smooth and rewarding.

This comes at a time when attention reverts to the drop in total enrolment into the Universal Basic Education (UBE) programme, a Federal-State Government education partnership, from 24.2 million in 2013 to 23.1 million in 2014 according to the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) 2016 education data, raising eyebrows among education experts.

The UBE, a nine year basic educational programme comes under the spotlight because the United Nation Children’s Education Fund (UNICEF) statistics had in 2015 put Nigeria’s out of school children at 10.5 million, 60 per cent of which were girls.

Nwalibe Nonye, headmistress Smach Nursery and Primary School, Lagos lamented the proliferation of sub-standard schools. “It is sad that today we find poorly equipped schools mushrooming on every street. The government is failing in its regulatory function. Children are at the receiving end and this is disturbing” she said.

Responding to BusinessDay’s questions Nnendi Umeohia, director of Kiddies Vision said “it is time to realise that education belongs in a private sector driven initiative. Government’s role is to regulate quality assurance and create an enabling environment.”

BusinessDay’s interaction with children at the National Stadium revealed that for children, the day is extremely valuable because it affords them the opportunity to play and have fun.

Cheta Chidalu, a primary six pupil of Itire Nursery and Primary School says: “I enjoy coming to the stadium for Children’s Day celebration because it enables me to make new friends from other schools. It is a time to sing, rejoice, dance and play without anyone telling me to stop making a noise.”

One of the problems faced in the private sector driven education is the presence of unmotivated teachers, who find themselves in the teaching profession for want of other options. “Teaching is a vocation, a ministry. It is sad that we find teachers who are so de-motivated because teaching is not their calling. Teaching should not be about salary. I believe there is a form of blessing that comes with being a dedicated teacher” suggested Okon Udeme, teacher at Itire Nursery/Primary, Lagos.