Global research findings have consistently shown that no other activity guarantees individuals the opportunities for social and economic mobility like education. The importance of education as the most important vehicle for the transformation of individuals and societies cannot be overemphasised.
It is equally not too hard to decipher that one key index to measure the growth or supposed development of any nation is the amount of attention, the leadership of such a country pays to her education sector.
Education over the years has played a vital role in the socio-economic development of any nation. It is against this backdrop that professionals in the field of education have identified the non-implementation of national policy on education as the reason behind the stunted growth of this all-important sector.
Isaac Adeyemi, former vice-chancellor Bells university of Science and Technology, Otta, Ogun State observes that the growth potential of education in Nigeria is stifled by the inability on the part of government across all levels and their agencies to faithfully implement national policy provisions, a situation that has led to poor quality of preparation of teachers.
Adeyemi pointed out that the inability of successive governments at different levels to implement the education policy has led to high illiteracy rates, a large number of out-of-school children, inadequacies in number and quality of teachers and poor quality of products from the school system.
According to him, “The interesting point to note is that all national reports on education over the last 20 or more years have documented the scenario described above, yet our pace of improvement has been snail slow. Indeed, quality is worsening on all fronts. To ensure that we hike performance of education, greater attention should turn to improve the delivery of education at all levels.”
Implementing a workable education policy is not all about throwing more money into the system; rather it is about all stakeholders – parents, students, teachers, school managers, religious leaders, examination bodies and the general public contributing in some form to improving efficiency, effectiveness, relevance and quality at all levels, Ibidapo Obe, former vice-chancellor University of Lagos says.
“I will say that the necessary policy and practice environment should be provided for the delivery of quality education at all levels. I am not talking about the federal government alone. State and local governments have their roles to play. We must invest more in education”, he said.
On his part, Peter Okebukola, former executive secretary National Universities Commission (NUC) observes that Nigeria’s National Policy Education is one of the finest documents on education in Africa.
He opines that it virtually covers all angles in the delivery of education, adding that it is not working as envisioned in some areas because many are satisfied with flouting its provisions since the penalty for transgression is weak.
Wale Afebioye, an executive director and business development executive of Premier College Ijebu- Ode, Ogun State said basically the problem with the education sector is the fact that schools are not centers for creative expression and most time people go to school basically to have a certificate to present in order to have a job. Analysts observe that increasingly, there are too much love for foreign education instead of developing our education system to compete globally, this development is bleeding the economy, as huge capital flight are experienced on an annual basis owing to the increase in foreign exchange loss to foreign universities said a source. The unsteady academic calendar, lack of infrastructure among other things and the constant strikes by lecturers according to analysts are responsible for this drive towards foreign education by Nigerians.
Maurice Onyiriuka, a university don suggested that the only way out of this quagmire is for government to support the entrenchment of adequate and quality education in all level of education in the nation especially the tertiary institutions, this he believes will nip in the bud the mass exodus of students to foreign land and save the economy of the huge foreign exchange loss.
He, therefore, urged the government to come out with a clear policy statement on the fundamental question of effective funding and other basic requirements need to save the nation this huge loss of foreign exchange.
KELECHI EWUZIE
