Education
is the process of building our mental capacity for socio-economic and political
impact. It could be formal or informal; however the context of this article is
formal education.
“A revelation by the Kaduna State Commissioner for
Education, Usman Mohammed, at an education summit two weeks ago, that 1,300 out
of 1,599 of the state’s teachers failed woefully in simple arithmetic and basic
literacy tests is alarming. The tests are ordinarily meant for primary four
pupils but the teachers’ woeful performance is a further proof that the
foundation of education in Nigeria, which the primary school system exemplifies,
has been dangerously eroded. “Only one of them scored 75 per cent; 250 scored
between 50 and 75 per cent and 1,300 scored below 25 per cent,” Mohammed said,
citing political patronage in teachers’ appointment as a challenge.
Kaduna State’s former governor, the late Patrick Yakowa,
had noted in November last year that 2,000 teachers with fake credentials were
discovered in the state. A total of 15,000 unqualified teachers are among the
36,000 employed by the state.
Before now, there
was a similar report about primary school teachers in Kwara State failing their
pupils’ tests, while 80 per cent of teachers in Sokoto are said to be
unqualified”. This is an excerpt of a Newspaper story
A former Prime
Minister of Britain in the 19th century, Benjamin Disraeli, once said that the
future of any nation depended on the education of its children. It would appear
that this has not made sense as yet to Nigeria’s leaders, who prefer to build
superstructures on quicksand when it comes to education.
It has been said
that the major problem of education in Nigeria is lack of funds. Yet it has
been known that even the funds allocated to some institutions of learning have
been poorly utilized. I am pretty convinced that the education sector is
suffering because proper value has not been placed on it.
The value attached
to education is synonymous to the value attached to human beings. It is because
the system does not value human beings in the country; it does not pay proper
attention to education. The necessity of education to human development is
pivotal and therefore should not be toyed with if we must sustain
socio-economic development in the country.
In some parts of
the country, female children are subtly restricted from going to school, while
in some other part, male children are preferred to learn trade and become
business people as though formal education is not meant for them.
If governments of
the states concerned in the story above valued there young ones and their
personal development, they would have invested in the capacity building of the
teachers who train these young ones.
Poor value on education
is also seen in the way those who teach in the sector are taken care of. Growing
up, I heard statements portraying teachers as Paupers. It was said that their
reward was in heaven, which meant that they are not necessarily expected to be
rich on earth. It made teaching profession non-attractive and disdaining.
How would such
people impart the proper knowledge to the pupils? Today following poor pay,
many of them (especially) in public schools in Nigeria, would spend part of
their day selling wares instead of being with the pupils and students. How would
pupils and students do well in external examinations when their teachers do not
use the allotted time to teach them? How would the teachers not fail
examinations meant for their pupils when they lack the intellectual capacity to
be teachers themselves?
Government and
school proprietors must pay attention to the welfare of teachers as well as
their capacity building so that they are better equipped intellectually and
motivated materially to teach and impart the right knowledge on the pupils and
students.
Talks
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