THE NIGERIAN EDUCATIONAL SECTOR AND MATTERS ARISING

For the past months, happenings in our educational sector are one that will make any lover of Nigeria and her future fret. It is common knowledge that no nation can ever develop without a strong and solid educational system. But for Nigeria, one is tempted to believe that we are either not ready or prepared for development that is why we have allowed our educational sector to wallow in neglect and protracted abandonment. One may forgive our leaders for their political ineptitude, but the act of neglecting the educational sector is unpardonable. Basic education is the fulcrum upon which one’s educational life is built on. Thus, if the foundation of basic education is shaky, then the prospects of educational growth become shaky. In Nigeria, there is hardly any mechanism to ensure that the foundation of basic education is properly built. Incidences of pupils attending classes under mango trees, sit on bare floors and dilapidated classrooms abound. We cannot allow this to continue if we are desirous of advancing both in terms of economic and human development. One recalls that the Olusegun Obasanjo’s administration did a lot to encourage basic education. Whatever has happened to that project remains unknown. Another problem in the educational sector is poor quality of teachers. Most of those who teach in our primary and secondary schools today are hardly qualified. Government must take steps to ensure that qualified teachers are recruited to teach at this all important level of our educational system. While government is ensuring that this is done, it must also know that teachers are poorly paid; the rather false belief that teachers reward is in heaven must change. We cannot pretend not to know that the reason why we have incompetent teachers teaching at that level is because of poor remuneration and condition of services. A situation where we pay politicians huge sum of money in allowances and basic salary and pay our teachers pittance as salary cannot be allowed to continue. Another unfortunate thing is that these poorly paid teachers are often owed their salaries for months. This is an injustice and it must stop! The Nigerian Union of Teachers has screamed and cried out, yet we remain deaf. NUT remains on strike in some states of the federation as I write. At the tertiary level it is not different. A visit to our universities, polytechnics or colleges of education will make you want to cry for this country. Can a nation develop or advance with this kind of situation, you ask? Dilapidated structures and a dearth of infrastructural facilities lay abound. You find students standing outside to receive lectures because they couldn’t secure a place to sit in the lecture hall. Such students are expected to sit and pass examination at the end of the semester. Won’t they just cram to pass? Another perturbing thing is that most of what we teach in our universities today is hardly useful in today’s world. For instance, the curriculum being taught to law students today was developed around 1990. Suffice it to say that lot must have happened and changed within the last twenty three years; yet, that is what today’s lawyers are being equipped with to face the challenges of the 21st century. Will they ever be able to fit into today’s world? This problem is not peculiar to law alone; it is present in all departments and faculties of our tertiary institutions. A peep into the sciences will show that what students are taught is more of theory rather than practical. Ever wondered why we have a dearth of scientists in the country? What do you expect, when students are only taught to read and not given the opportunity to put what they have learnt into practice? We must change our rigid and static approach in developing our curriculum if we really want to join the comity of advanced countries. The importance of sciences and technology cannot be over emphasized, yet we do so little for that sector. The welfare of lecturers rears its ugly head, whenever the issues bothering on our universities are being discussed. These lectures cannot be accused of demanding too much. Where I don’t agree with them however, is the extent to which they go in seeking to advance issues bothering on their welfare. Strike for instance, has done more harm than good to not just the students but also to our educational system and the country at large. Lectures must know that embarking on endless strike is not the solution to myriad of problems in the educational sector. It is in this vein that I am calling on the Academic Staff Union to Polytechnics to sheathe its sword and go back to the classrooms for the interest of the future of this country and that of their students who have been at home for five students. The Academic Staff Union of Universities has just embarked on an indefinite strike. Our lecturers must know that strike is not in the interest of this country and her teeming population of youth. It is also submitted that government’s lackadaisical attitude, is anything but praise worthy. Government’s care free attitude to the polytechnic lecturers may have prompted the ASUU strike. Government should therefore be alive to her responsibilities; leadership comes with responsibilities and if you are not ready for responsibilities, then don’t seek to become a leader. There is also the problem of poor students and lecturers relationship. Lecturers are supposed to be mentors to their student; but what obtains today is the opposite. Some lecturers fail their students for refusing to date or sleep with them. Let me use this medium to commend the courage of those female students who protested recently in Lagos, we must also note that boys are not left out. I just hope that they will develop the requisite courage too someday. There are other lecturers who put unnecessary apprehension in their students, threatening to fail them for no just cause. One wonders what joy they derive by failing their students. These must not be allowed in our ivory towers. Our higher institutions ought to be places of academic pursuit both for the advancement of our nation and the individual student. We must also checkmate exam malpractice in our higher institutions. This like corruption is like a cankerworm that has eaten deeply into the fabric of our educational system. Here, students, parents and lecturers are all complicit. It requires a high sense of commitment and responsibility to be able to fight this scourge. The good news is that it is no an impossible task to embark upon. The employers of labour always complain that graduates are half baked. We do not need a prophet to tell us that some of the issues discussed above, account for this. However, the problem is not just with our universities, it is one that permeates all sectors of an individual’s educational life. The massive failures recorded in both WAEC and NECO is a pointer to the fact that our educational system rests on a time bomb. Less we forget, only ten people scored above 300 in the last UTME examination conducted by JAMB. No responsible government should sit and fold its arms in the midst of all these indices. Government must rise and act as fast as it can. Action is the only thing that will prevent Nigeria and its educational sector from the impending collapse. God bless Nigeria. Frank O. Ijege 08032093229 frankijege@yahoo.com