Some stakeholders in the education sector have called for more government budgetary allocation to education to help bring the needed transformation in line with the International Day of Education 2022 theme.
The International Day of Education 2022 which took place all over the world on January 24, 2022, had its theme as “Changing Course, Transforming Education.”
In Lagos State, the Youth Orientation for Development, YOD, (a UNESCO NGO) in collaboration with Coker Secondary School Alumni Association celebrated the day with a special event to sensitize the students and other stakeholders on the importance of education and the need for the government to provide required teaching and learning facilities.
Folashade Adefisayo, the commissioner for education, Lagos State, who was represented by Adebambo Mosunmola Rita, director (non-governmental organisation); stated that the theme of the International Day of Education 2022 is a call for changing the course of poverty; changing the course of ignorance; changing the course of societal menace, changing the course of affliction and sickness, and of course, changing course of untimely death.
“Why we are here today is to pass across the message of the significance of education in the life of every citizen globally,” she said.
The commissioner also disclosed that the Lagos State government is doing everything within its powers to ensure that every child of school age in Lagos is in school during school hours.
“It is in the agenda of Lagos State government to ensure that children that are of school age are not seen on the roadside selling or hawking. If children are not in school when they are supposed to be in school, this is the denial of their rights. It is your right for you to be educated. Lagos State is committed to the well-being and education of all Lagosians.
“Lagos State government is working assiduously to make sure that schools across the state are provided with adequate teaching and learning facilities to make sure that the classrooms are conducive for effective teaching and learning. The process is ongoing and I’m very optimistic that it will be completed.
“There is a need for increased budgetary allocation for education,” she said.
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Other stakeholders who spoke at the event included Emmanuel Ejiogu, the president of YOD; Canice Opara, the president of the alumni association/first head boy of the school, and Sanni Adepeju Idowu, the principal of Coker Senior Secondary School.
They called on the government, parents, and other stakeholders to encourage young people to take education seriously, even as they called on the government to pay more attention to education by allocating more funds for educational activities in the country.
Ejiogu in his speech reiterated the importance of education in building a transforming, sustainable, inclusive, and peaceful future in the world.
“Education is a human right, a public good, and a public responsibility. The United Nations general assembly proclaimed 24 January as International Day of Education in celebration of the role of education for peace and development.
Without inclusive and equitable quality of education and lifelong opportunities for all, countries will not succeed in achieving gender equality and breaking the cycle of poverty that is leaving millions of children, youth, and adults behind.
“Today, 258 million children and youth still do not attend school; 617 million children and adolescents cannot read and do basic math; less than 40 percent of girls in sub-Saharan Africa complete lower secondary school, and some four million children and youth refugees are out of school. Their right to education is being violated and it is unacceptable. Government should allocate more funds for educational activities.
This is why our organization is relentless in its effort to call the attention of the government and other corporate organizations to do something very urgently, to see that these identified needs in education are met,” YOD president said.
