OUR EDUCATION, OUR FUTURE – Onyeukwu 

BY Ogueri Onyeukwu

The education system in Nigeria has continued to

evolve over the years. The staccato evolvement has to

a large extent been directly determined by the

preferences of the man at the helm of affairs at the

ministry of Education. We have moved from the 6-5-4

system to the 6-3-3-4 system and now to the 9-3-4 system.

Regrettably most of these innovations are blind

to the cultural, social, economic, political and

environmental dictates leading to the unprecedented

disconnect between the society, the citizens and the beneficiaries of the system.

Most people pontificate that these frequent changes give rise to the production of half baked graduates who lack the necessary skills for employment after leaving the university. Where then do we go from here?

Let me examine some issues affecting education today without pretending to be exhaustive.

One of the fundamental issues that has affected the quality of education today

is the change in the social status of most families. Take a typical Nigerian family where both

parents are employed. Assume the Lagos or the typical urban setting,. Both parents leave the house early, the school bus picks the children from home and drops them back after

school. Parents make monetary provisions for lunch for the children. Before the parents come back from work, the children are asleep or too tired to have any meaningful

interaction with their parents. Most of them are unable to do their assignments. Teachers

are under strict instructions not to cain the children. More often than not the parents provide the children with sophisticated phones, pay for DSTV and other entertainment provisions. They are not always at home to monitor the use of these devices. The children

stray in the use of these devices and are exposed to programs they should not watch. Their attention is distracted and distorted. Energy channeled to educationally unproductive

ventures.

Who is to blame? There are very limited employment opportunities in the country today. The industry that

employs most in most states of the federation is the education industry. Consequently all manner of characters have invaded the industry. Those qualified and those not too qualified. When this is juxtaposed with the proliferation of private schools from Nursery to the Universities, the worry becomes disturbing.  In most schools, public and private, our

sisters and mothers have invaded the teaching profession. The female genders are reputed

for their tenderness and caring attitude. As a result most of them are unable to administer punishment commensurate with any infraction by students. In some public schools many of them come to school with various products to sell. This no doubt gives rise to divided attention. The level of commitment on the part of most teachers these days is questionable.

Many of them even lack the requisite knowledge and the ability to impart that knowledge. Homeworks are not given, assignments are not marked, classrooms are not properly managed, salaries are poor, motivation has taken a flight. The future of our children suffer. These same children exposed and given equal opportunities with their American and British

counterparts always excel.

 THE SOCIAL MEDIA IS THE MOST PORTENT

DESTRUCTIVE WEAPON AT THE UNRESTRAINED DISPOSAL OF THE

CHILDREN AND THE EDUCATION SECTOR.

A child may start chatting on the Facebook or Whatsapp or Instagram or any other social media, spend hours, forget his/her

food, assignment and home chores. Some have been hit by vehicles while chatting on the highway. It is that bad. Parents must restrain the children from wasting their precious study time on the social media. The discipline in most schools these days is at the lowest ebb. Where a student will challenge his teacher not to cain him because his parents are very rich.

Due to the race to have many students who can afford the exorbitant school fees of some high brow schools, some teachers have been dismissed for daring to correct students. The sheer number of employees in the education sector frustrates government efforts in its

attempt to motivate the teachers and workers.

Fundamentally the British education system bequeathed to us after independence is still

practiced today in Britain. The entry point into primary school was and it is still six years.

However today, many of our children start primary school at age 3 or 4; this affects their abilities later in life. Just last week, a Newspaper reported that a private University graduated about 200 first class graduates. One starts to wonder, did they purchase the first class, what are their discoveries and contributions to the body of knowledge that earned

them first class. Is first class now for sale? A marketing gimmick? What an abuse of the

revered first class? While I was in the University in the early 80s, talking of first class was like expecting the impossible.

 AFTER EVERY SEMESTER EXAMINATION, THE RESULT

AND SENATE APPROVAL ALWAYS PRECEDE REGISTRATION OF COURSES FOR THE NEXT SEMESTER BECAUSE THERE ARE COURSES YOU MUST PASS BEFORE YOU ARE ALLOWED TO REGISTER FOR THE NEXT COURSE. THEY ARE PRE-REQUISITES.

My Niece about to go for youth service was only told

after others were mobilized that she had a second year course to repeat. The lecturer has not released the result of the course written in 200 level till 400level.

THE SENATE OF THE

UNIVERSITIES ARE CONDONING THOSE UNWHOLESOME PRACTICES, THE

ACADEMIC BOARDS AND THE VICE CHANCELLORS ARE ALSO ENCOURAGING THIS WITHOUT REPRIMANDING THE LECTURERS.

Why would a first semester result not be published and approved by senate before

commencement of the second semester in which some of the courses in the

first semester are pre-requisites to those for the second semester? This is

disturbing and it is indiscipline of the highest order. Vice Chancellors must arise and take charge of what is happening in their Universities.The missionaries and early churches gained entry into our various communities by adopting education as a social responsibility. The churches today must see education as a social

responsibility affordable to most people in the society. This is not to submit that everybody must have a University education to succeed. No. We must look into the issue of technical

colleges and polytechnics established to provide the necessary technical skills that oil the engine of technological development and equip them properly, remunerate them

adequately and encourage them to enviable heights.

THE CONCEPT OF FREE EDUCATION HAS BEEN ABUSED BY MOST STATE

GOVERNORS AND USED BY POLITICIANS TO HOODWINK INNOCENT

IGNORANT PARENTS IN OUR LOCAL GOVERNMENT AREAS AND THE STATES.

The constitution of Nigeria (1999) as amended, which is the grand norm makes education free and compulsory from primary to junior secondary.

CONSEQUENTLY IT IS OBLIGATORY ON EVERY STATE TO ENSURE THAT

ALL CHILDREN OF SCHOOL AGE THAT FALL WITHIN THE ABOVE BRACKET

GO TO SCHOOL AT NO ADDITIONAL COST TO THEIR PARENTS. IT IS NOT A FAVOUR. IT IS THE LAW.

 What we lack is the will to demand for these rights from those at the helm of affairs. It is such designed that after Junior secondary 3, the system will be such as to advise such child on his areas of strengths and weaknesses. At this point the children are supposed to be separated between those good to attend technical colleges for

skills acquisition and those suitable for pure Senior secondary education. The political office holders bandying free education mantra from Primary one to Junior Secondary school 3 are dishonest. Adequate infrastructure must be provided to ensure effective and efficient free education at primary to junior secondary 3 level.

The National education Research and Development council must channel its efforts towards research and enforcement of standards instead of the frequent changes in the

curricular, subject combinations, and other controversies. The benchmark standards must

conform to internationally acceptable standards.

 LAGOS STATE IS A MODEL IN THE ENFORCEMENT OF QUALITY ASSURANCE AND REGULATION OF

ESTABLISHMENT OF EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTIONS.

Finally to arrest the falling standard of education; there must be proper enlightenment by

the government on the constitutional provision of free education for all Nigeria children from primary to junior secondary 3. Despite the financial challenges it poses to the

various state governments, teachers must be adequately motivated. Each

state is encouraged to establish an education trust fund. Anybody who chooses to be a teacher must know that he/she is in a noble

profession and must show proper unquestionable commitments. The nation

looks up to us as builders. Discipline, reasonable discipline must be meted to

students who refuse to take verbal corrections.Teachers must continuously develop their body of knowledge; they must continue to research into modern knowledge and modern ways of teaching to

be relevant to prevailing world standards.

Parents must restrain children from the use of social media. Parents must

determine what children do on social media. Parental care must not be

compromised.Corporate bodies and religious bodies must invest in education as a social responsibility

especially in the area of research.Education must not be an entirely commercial venture. It holds the key to the future. The National Education Research and Development council must be reorganized, to make it better focused. It must concentrate on research. Giving recognition

to the peculiarities of the beneficiary geopolitical zones. All state governments must shift emphasis from establishing more Universities to

establishing technical colleges to cater for the graduands from JSS3. This will be the beginning of the revolution in technological development in Nigeria.

Finally, the entry age to various levels of educational institutions from primary to the

University must be set and strictly adhered to henceforth.The senate and the academic board of all universities must restore discipline, diligence,

commitment and encouragement on the lecturers. Results of every semester must be

approved by the senate and released before registration for the next semester.

*Sir Temple Ogueri Onyeukwu FCA

‘The Teacher’ Writes from Lagos