By CHINYERE NWACHUKWU

Key education stakeholders say government at national and sub-national levels must give the much needed attention and show sincere commitment to the development of the education sector, to make necessary impact in 2024.

The stakeholders spoke against the backdrop of events that shaped the sector in the outgoing year, and expectations for the New Year.

Prof. Emmanuel Osodeke, National President, Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) that no significant change was recorded in the sector in 2023.

He noted that a lot of political will was needed to turn the sector around, for the country to attain the much desired accelerated growth and development.

“Honestly, I will say nothing significant actually changed in the entire sector during the year under review. It is practically nothing close to what we want, especially as it concerns budgetary allocation.

“It is not different from what we used to have in the past eight years. It is not getting any better. Just look at the amount that was allocated to the sector this year. Does it show we seriously want transformation?

“The budget proposed, which was 8.8 per cent, still fell short of the global education agency, UNESCO’s recommended 26 per cent expenditure on the sector.

“Away from the budget, we are all witness to the poor education environment, infrastructure, little or non-existing instructional materials across board, poor remuneration for workers in the sector and of course the much talked about funding.

“Oftentimes, these budgets, when passed, are hardly properly implemented. I hope we look at the sector holistically and x-ray the areas of concern in a bid to proffer solutions to them for a better Nigeria,” the ASUU leader said.

He said that it was time the country started looking inward, by taking its destiny in its hands, as no foreigner was in a position to do so.

The don urged the federal government to ‘walk the talk’ by ensuring that funds voted for key projects in the sector were implemented in a bid to achieve desired results.

“I want to say I like what some state governments have just done in terms of budget allocation for the sector in the coming year.

“It means we are gradually coming to terms on the place of education in nation building.

“States, like Enugu for instance has passed a 33 per cent budget in education in the state, and I will like to say this is historic. Abia and Oyo both passed 20 and 21 per cent respectively and I want to say this will be highly commendable, if implemented.

“These three state governments must be appreciated, if they implement these budgets as expected, as this is the way to go and also hope the Federal Government takes a cue from them.

“Like I mentioned earlier, we have what it takes to solve our problems all by ourselves as a people, and not foreigners.

“We must stop running to the western world for one favour or the other, look inward and in doing so, education should be our top priority,” Osodeke said.

On his part, Mr Akinteye Afeez, Senate President, National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS), told NAN that education in 2023 had not fared as well as it ought to have done.

According to him, the sector is still the same, grappling with so many avoidable issues.

“Education has not done any better than we used to have it. There is still no remarkable improvement in the sector as a whole; it has not changed from what obtained in previous years.

“We just hope the policies of government as promised in 2024 will kickstart in earnest. Example is the CNG buses promised by the Federal Government, bursaries and increment in the education budget.

“We hope we have also really said goodbye to ASUU strikes and hope for better years ahead. But as far as we are concerned, education in the year under review did not fare well,” Afeez stated.

A one-time Minister of Education, Prof. Chinwe Obaji, on her part, urged the Federal Government to pay more attention to the activities of some private and government- owned institutions in the country.

According to her, there is the need for government to intensity its monitoring, supervision and evaluation efforts in schools across all levels in the country, in a bid to achieve quality products.

She added that such measure, if carried out, would also check the exploitative tendencies often witnessed, especially in most private secondary schools.

“I think government must step up efforts in beaming its searchlights in the schools, especially the private-owned secondary schools where some teachers and management rip parents off their hard earned money in the name of carrying out one academic task or the other.

“Some parents have been coming up with several complaints concerning the outrageous demands made by some of these private schools.

“The most worrisome of them is the outrageous fees these schools tend to quote for these parents as amount meant for the registration of public examinations such as the Senior School Certificate Examination by NECO and the West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE) by WAEC.

“These fees tend to be a far cry from the standard fees fixed by the two examination bodies.

“In the same vein, such light must also be beamed on some public schools, where it has been discovered that some teachers abandon their line of duties to engage in petty trade or other things.

“There must seem to be that passion, dedication and discipline on the side of school administrators as well, not just government alone.

“All hands must be on deck to take the sector to the much-desired height,” the former minister said. (NAN)

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