By Reporters
Lagos – A former Education Minister, Prof. Chinwe Onaja ,President of Accademic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), Prof. Abiodun Ogunyemi and other stakeholders have called for overhaul of public schools and revitalisation of the entire education sector in the country.
The stakeholders made the call in a separate interviews with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lagos, describing the existing situation as ‘deplorable’
Prof. Obaji who spoke against the backdrop of the extent of decay in public schools in the country, asserted that no country can rise above its level of education.
“I will simply describe the extent of rot in our public schools, which cut across the primary, secondary and tertiary levels of education as deplorable.
“There is nothing to actually commend in the real sense of the word and l am being sincere about this.
“The primary schools across the country, even though they keep increasing by the day, have no marching infrastructure to go with their ever increasing population.
“Even where some of the infrastructure exists, there is no maintenance mechanism put in place to protect or safeguard them.
“Accommodation for teachers which would have also assisted in adding value to the productivity levels of these teachers are non-existent, just like it is applied to all the other two levels,’’ she said.
Obaji added that the non-availability of facilities such as toilets, sporting facilities and adequate classroom blocks had reduced the schools to a shadow of themselves.
She noted that the secondary and tertiary institutions in the country are not exempted from the decay as the non-availability of well-equipped libraries, laboratories, as well as inadequate qualified and professional teachers remained a major challenge.
She added that the private schools were equally not better as they also employ unqualified teachers.
The former minister noted that most of the schools have become neighbourhood schools because teachers in these schools are from the same vicinity.
According to her, such trend is worrisome as these teachers will, given the slightest opportunity, go to attend to their personal needs first, before that of their students or pupils.
“This is unlike when we have teachers coming together from other localities and are accommodated in the staff quarters, share ideas and have a more unique way of delivering on their work.’’
She explained that the issue of lack of security around the schools has also been a major concern in recent times.
Obaji said the development had caused parents pain, noting that it remained a major threat to the development of the sector.
“Many parents are now afraid to send their children to school because of the increasing rate of kidnapping and general insecurity in the country.
“All these, coupled with other structural challenges have brought teaching and learning process and other key developmental programmes within the educational sector in our country to a very terrible state,’’ she said.
Obaji also identified unqualified students who are admitted in universities and other tertiary institutions, despite standards put in place by test bodies, as another major issue plaguing the educational sector.
She said that the issue of absentee lecturers and even Vice-Chancellors must also be examined.
According to her, the inability of universities to provide befitting accommodation for most of their lecturers is taking a toll on their productivity rate.
“Most lecturers in our tertiary schools today do not live close to or within the schools and as a result, there is low research input and output.
“So, unless we put a corresponding infrastructure to match the population increase, we are not going anywhere.
“We must also strive to preserve the history of institutions in order to sustain the ideals, vision and mission of their founding fathers,’’ she said.
Prof. Biodun Ogunyemi, National President, Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), said that the main reason for members’ regular agitation has always been linked to the depreciating state and neglect of the system over the years.
According to Ogunyemi, the union’s appeal to fix the rot in the system is the bone of the contention it has in an effort to ensure that the universities remain relevant to national development.
The union leader said the Needs Assessment exercise carried out in 2012, which involved 73 public universities, revealed an embarrassing state of libraries, laboratories, lecture theatres, hostels, offices and the general dwelling environment.
@Abiodun noted that it was as a result of this that the union felt that both the Federal and state governments would agree on the need for a state of emergency to be declared in the education sector.
He maintained that until this is done and the needs assessment implemented, the quest for accelerated growth and national transformation may continue to remain a dream.
Also speaking, Mr Adedoyin Adesina, NUT Chairman in Lagos State, said that the level of decay in public schools was alarming in some parts of Lagos.
He said many schools in Lagos were densely populated, thereby causing problems for the teachers.
Adesina said the overpopulated schools fall under Education Districts I, II and V.
In Education District I, Agege, Alimosho and Ifako-Ijaye, classrooms are not adequate and the government must do more.
In Education District V, which includes Ajeromi Ifelodun, Ojo, Amuwo Odofin and Badagry, people are moving inter-land daily and the schools are highly populated.
In district II, which includes Ikorodu, Kosofe and Shomolu, schools there are also very populated and the situation is not impressive.
Adesina said some schools have about 3,000 students with only 10 classrooms and a few furniture for the students.
“The Lagos State Government needs to improve on infrastructural facilities, furniture, manpower and instructional materials for teachers.
“We do not have enough manpower to teach the 39 trade subjects recently introduced by the government .
“We are not using teachers who major in a particular subject for it.
“ What they do is to convert someone who read agriculture, for instance, to teach animal husbandry,’’ he said.
“Education does not work that way, we must adopt the specialised teaching technique to improve our standards,’’ he said.
Adesina said the teacher/pupil ratio is 150 to one teacher or180 students to one teacher.
He urged the state government to employ more teachers in both primary and secondary schools in the state.
Adesina said that the government should provide instructional materials, while the teachers try to improvise and also create their own materials at the state resource centre
He said many schools do not have adequate furniture, adding that government needs to provide more school furniture.
Also, Mr Femi Adesanya, a Lecturer in the Department of English and General Studies, Federal College of Education (Technical), Akoka, called for a comprehensive overhaul of the different levels of the education sector.
Adesanya, in an interview with NAN, said this was imperative because the challenges facing schools at all levels are multidimensional.
He said the problem confronting the education system could be blamed on the lip service the country’s political leaders were paying on the sector.
According to him, the state of infrastructure in most Nigerian public schools was generally poor.
“A visit to some of our schools would reveal the deplorable conditions at hand, as the state is often characterised by dilapidated structures, tattered roofs, and classrooms without furniture.
“Add to this the deplorable state of the offices of teachers,” he said.
The lecturer noted that it was almost impossible for qualitative instruction to be achieved in such an unconducive environment.
Adesanya emphasised that there was also a deliberate and unnecessary gap in the population of students or pupils, as against the number of teachers in the public schools.
He said recruitment and supply of teachers was grossly inadequate when compared with the galloping and explosive population of students and pupils in the public schools.
Adesanya noted that if education must survive as a yardstick for economic and manpower development in the country, the issue of teacher education must undergo a multidisciplinary appraisal.
“There have been scholarly articles, seminars, conferences, research and other educational fora at which such challenges are discussed.
“Unfortunately, the government would always turn deaf ears to such scholarly expositions and efforts towards building the sector,’’ he said.
Also, Mr Olayinka Aderoju, Vice-Principal, Nigeria-Tulip International College (NTIC), Ogun chapter, told NAN that the state of emergency in education ought to have been declared long ago.
Aderoju said this is because the problems did not just crop up, and with the decline in the national economy, the rot steadily spread across different strata of the education sector.
“The problems are not insurmountable though. With discipline, a positive mentality, a proper policy framework and a good fiscal policy to back it up, all of the problems can be adequately addressed,’’ he said.
According to him, government-approved schools are still better, as no school could be registered or approved without having adequate teaching personnel and facilities.
The vice-principal said the problem confronting the sector lies in the inability of the Quality Assurance Departments of the state Ministries of Education to conduct, as and when due, the proper inspection of schools.
He said such inspections would ensure that the standard that earned them the approval is well maintained, even after the approval was granted.
Aderoju said in any standard school, the teacher/student ratio, under any circumstance, should not be more than 20 students to a teacher.
He said: “Teachers need to reach out to all types of learners that could be in a class, so as to ensure this and equally adopt a student-centred teaching/learning process.
“The number should not be more than 20 students to a teacher; unfortunately, except in some standard private schools, public schools and many other private hold this in abeyance.’’ (NAN)
