As scholars, politicians and policy makers gathered in Osogbo on Saturday, October 26 to celebrate 80th birthday of Professor Olu Aina, the pioneer Registrar/Chief Executive of National Business and Technical Education Board, NABTEB, discussants at the event have come up with recommendation for the government on the state of education in the country.
According to the colloquium communique read by Professor Siyan Oyeweso, the discussants recommended among several things, improved funding of education sector. Read…
Communique of the International Colloquium Organised in Honour of Prof. Olu Aina at 80 Held on the 26th of October, 2019 at the WOCDIF Centre, Osogbo, Osun State, Nigeria.
The keynote lecture was delivered by Prof. Peter Okebukola, OFR. It was entitled “The Place of and State of Education in Nigeria’s Development: Imperative and Urgency of Reform”.
It addressed a number of issues which pointed to the fact that there is need for urgent response to the situation of education in Nigeria at all levels. Followed by panel discussion by eminent scholars and others from the public sector, the following were identified as the challenges faced by the Nigerian education sector:
Challenges:
1. The quality of education originally recorded from the 1960s has depreciated to date.
2. Quantity has now appreciated exponentially.
3. The blame for the poor state of education cuts across all sectors of stakeholders.
4. Funding has been drastically reduced.
5. Western imperialism weighed against the quality of funding as dramatized by the adoption of the Structural Adjustment Programme (SAP).
6. Moral decadence at all levels has continued to plague our education sector.
7. There has been insufficient adoption and application of Information and Communication Technology (ICT).
8. There is low rating of technical and vocational education.
9. Policy formulation is not matched by implementation.
10. There is a poor reward system for key players in the sector.
‘Redemption’ Measures
1. The quality of education must be improved throughout all aspects and stages of the sector.
2. Quantity in educational patronage must be matched with quality.
3. All stakeholders must accept their respective blames and rise up to the challenge of transforming the education sector.
4. Funding to the educational sector must be increased at all levels.
5. Home-grown policies should be formulated and implemented to address the peculiar challenges of education in Nigeria.
6. Moral decadence in our society needs to be addressed to impact positively on the education sector.
7. There must be prompt adoption of ICT for effective and cutting edge education.
8. Vocational and Technical Education must be seen as key to our development.
9. Policy formulation must be matched by implementation to attain and maintain quality education.
10. Our reward system must be improved upon to impact on the quality of education.
Conclusion: The colloquium ended on the note that all stakeholders should rise up to the challenge of attaining quality education in Nigeria.
