On Wednesday, the Nigerian Academy of Education (NAE) urged President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to declare a state of emergency in the education sector in order to confront the system’s rot and decadence.
The Academy has also recommended the Federal Government to discontinue secondary school operations and transfer over all 115 Federal Government Colleges to the states under complete conditions.
NAE Professor Kabiru Isyaku made the call during his welcome speech at the 38th Annual Congress, 2024, which will be held in Abuja from November 5th to 8th under the topic “Nigerian Education System: Past, Present, and Future.”
The event saw the introduction of 26 new members and the promotion of three outstanding members to Fellowship status.
The Academy also honored the Executive Secretary of Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund) for his remarkable contributions to the development of Nigeria.
Isyaku lamented the awful status of education in Nigeria and proposed that an emergency be declared in the area because it impacts all other sectors of the country’s economy.
He revealed that the National Policy on Education was last reviewed more than ten years ago, and that the declaration of emergency would allow the government to gather experts for the policy review and address critical issues such as the status of education in the Constitution, structure, funding, and the relevance of the current curriculum.
He went on to say that evaluation and certification issues should be addressed comprehensively with all stakeholders, including the local, state, and federal governments, employers, religious, and other development partners, because education is everyone’s responsibility.
Isyaku remarked that there is now no synergy between the federal and state governments to ensure the seamless growth of education in the country.
He advocated for adequate recompense for educational professionals, as well as the timely payment of salaries and other rights.
He criticized the Federal Government’s operation of primary and secondary schools as an abnormality, claiming that this does not occur anyplace else in the world.
“The Federal Government, at this stage of the country’s development, should not directly run secondary Schools.
“Instead, FGN should only be in charge of Policy and Quality Assurance. Thus, all Federal Government Colleges should be devolved to the states with comprehensive conditions,” he said.
The Nigerian Academy of Education decried the proliferation of educational institutions by federal state governments and urged for a moratorium on the construction of new institutions until the current ones are adequately equipped and have the necessary personnel, as needed by regulatory bodies.
Prof. Alhas Maicibi Nok of the Faculty of Education at Nasarawa State University in Keffi lamented the high level of corruption in the country’s educational institutions.
He claimed that, while education is plagued by a lack of finance, the most serious issue is the exploitation of the limited resources available to schools.
Nok voiced many concerns about the integrity of people nominated to lead educational institutions in the country, claiming that even the appointment of vice-chancellors is often marred by nepotism and other local interests.
While speaking about the decline in the quality of teaching and learning in schools, he noted a trend in which teachers in most schools teach students for exams rather than teaching for knowledge, adding that this has also fueled sharp practices in which students are no longer earning marks but are buying them with money or sex, among other unwholesome practices.
