Standard of education in Nigeria to some people is improving while others say it is falling. What is your view on this?
State of education in Nigeria is not too bad because looking at the education system 20 years ago and counting the number of education institutions we have today, you will agree with me that we have been able to make progress in some areas, especially in the contemporary Information Communication Technology (ICT) which is making learning easier and accessible to people. But still, there is room for improvement and the need to keep moving forward to attain the best.
How do you think the standard can be improved?
It is very important that in whatever we do, we try to make it dynamic because the world itself is dynamic. You improve on what you did yesterday, today so as to be able to have better result for tomorrow. In improving the standard of education in Nigeria, government has to properly play the role expected of it, in the areas of funding and providing enabling environment for the functionaries. Talking of academics and non- academic staff in schools, there is need for government to put more effort in providing their needs in such a way that will guarantee continuity in the teaching and learning in our educational institutions. However, government should give special consideration to the condition of service of teachers across the board. It should also increase the percentage allocated to education in the annual budget so that the workers in schools will be catered for in terms of welfare because, for one to be able to give his best, that person has to be motivated. The government still needs to put more effort in constructing additional class rooms, administrative blocks, library as well as supplying desired text books. There are some schools that lack class rooms, no instructional materials and teaching aids, no library and other lapses which require adequate attention.
You said if dynamism is applied, the standard of education will be better. Can you explain further?
Yes, as we are in a civilised era with ICT where people are less dependent on reading or research through text books. You hardly see government schools provided with computer service, except private institutions. So, let every primary school begin to appreciate ICT at that level as it is very important for development. Also, education institutions in Nigeria have to be encouraged in the area of training and re-training of their workers because knowledge is diverse and to meet up with international standards one has to be exposed to development across the globe in the education sector. Moreover, teachers, especially, need to be enlightened on modern styles and modes of teaching because some teachers are not competent. Conclusively, government should be monitoring the activities of teachers because some teachers are not rendering their services as expected and that is why you see a large number of teachers of a particular school sending their own children to best private schools. So, if they are monitored and encouraged to teach their own children, surely they will perform better. Government should amicably solve the problem of strike with the education stakeholders rather than allowing teachers to embark on strike which is driving back the education institutions.
