Stakeholders in the education sector after a cursory look at the sector performance in Nigeria in the last four years, insists that infrastructure, literacy, enrolment, participation, efficiency and quality of skilled teachers remains huge talking points as the new education minister assumes office this month.
According to them, the rate of school drop-outs is on the increase, giving rise to the rate of delinquency and crime in the society.
A London-based Minority Rights Group International (MRGI), in a report that was prepared in collaboration with UNICEF, shows that about 50 to 70 percent of the million children out of school are from minority or indigenous peoples in developing countries such as Nigeria which has the highest number of school drop-outs
The report also expresses doubt that the Millennium Development Goals, (MDGS) will be met by the 2020 deadline especially if the right policies targeted at these groups of people are not properly implemented.
Tolu Odugbemi, former vice-chancellor, University of Lagos observes that the consistent low percentage in the budgetary allocation to the education sector has left the sector handicapped.
Odugbemi said the statistical figures for the budget as proposed by government in the last four years represent a clear indication of the almost disregard that successive governments place on the education sector.
He observes that the challenges against qualitative education in the country affect all categories of students, adding that poor infrastructure is one of the major problems facing tertiary education in Nigeria. There are about 130 universities owned by Federal and state governments, and over 300 polytechnics and colleges of education spread across the nation belonging to governments of the federation.
Odugbemi opines that managers of universities have over the years, unable to diversify their means of providing hostel accommodation and associated facilities to students. There has been over the last two decades an upsurge of students’ population in almost all Nigerian universities, but there was no commensurate improvement in accommodation and other students’ services.”
He added: As a result, there is rapid deteriorating of hostel facilities, overcrowding and undue congestion in rooms, over-stretched lavatory, laundry facilities and poor sanitation.
Isaac Adeyemi, former vice-chancellor of Bells University of science and technology was quick to point that reformatting of teacher education is very urgent. The poor quality of teachers in the Nigerian school system is a major force steering education in the wrong direction.
“Until our teachers are better trained and well-motivated, all efforts to improve the quality of the education system will be severely compromised. In the quest to increase teacher quantity, all manner of persons and all manner of part-time and sandwich programmes (mainly to generate income), are part of the current menu of teacher training”. He said.
The National Teachers Institute, the colleges of education and the faculties of education are blameworthy in unleashing the army of poorly-trained teachers on our educational system. Reformatting teacher education means a major curriculum overhaul. It means improving the quality of the processing of the poor quality intake into our teacher preparation institutions.
Adeyemi calls for periodic re-certification of teachers, adding that Nigeria should begin to train a new breed of 21st century teachers who are steeped in the use of modern methods of instruction and are at the cutting edge of knowledge in their subject matter.
“We should provide a curriculum running from basic through higher education that will lead students to develop 21st-century skills and make them acquire values for good citizenship”, Adeyemi said.
