YOUTH AND EDUCATION CO-CREATION

The authorities should invest more in education

Based on the reality that without inclusive and quality education for all, it would be difficult to break the cycle of poverty that is leaving millions of children, youth and adults behind, the United Nations General Assembly in 2018 proclaimed 24 January as International Day of Education. As Nigerians therefore join the rest of the world tomorrow to mark this year’s edition with the theme, ‘The power of youth in co-creating education’, authorities in the country must begin to appreciate the importance of the sector to our development, peace and national prosperity. As technology continues to transform the world, involving youth in co-creating modern, according to the UN, “relevant and inclusive education systems is essential to ensure teaching and learning truly meet their aspirations.”

Since education is, strictly speaking, not just learning but the nurturing of the human being into a responsible member of society, this year’s theme should remind us that education does not begin or end with what happens in the classroom. “Youth make up more than half of the global population and are a powerful engine for innovation, social change and sustainable development,” says the United Nations which advocates involving young people in co-creating modern and inclusive education systems. “Yet many still face persistent barriers that hold them back from shaping the future they want—from poverty and inequality to limited access to quality education and decent work.”

From primary to secondary schools in Nigeria, the educational system is seriously challenged. At the tertiary level, things are so bad that the federal government recently declared a seven-year moratorium on the establishment of universities, polytechnics and colleges of education. Most of the existing institutions of higher learning not only suffer from inadequate infrastructure, ill-equipped laboratories, overcrowded classrooms, but they are also ill-staffed. It is no surprise that most of their products lack sufficient knowledge, skills and possibly other attributes that will enable them to serve themselves, their employers, and society. This problem can also be traced to the neglect that the sector has suffered over the years in the hands of successive governments in the country. And at all levels.

Perhaps nothing exemplifies the rot more than the way teachers are treated in the country, especially in terms of remunerations. The reward system does not seem tailored to take into full account the centrality of teaching and the sacrifices of teachers. Today, many take to teaching for want of anything else to do. Unlike in the past, teaching is now a job of last resort for graduates with no other job prospects. Meanwhile, those who take up the profession are poorly paid and hardly regarded in the society. We therefore enjoin the managers of educational structures and systems in the country to pay greater attention to the overall teaching and learning process, including policies and environmental factors that support proper knowledge impartation.

There is a consensus that the deplorable state of education in the country is traceable to the fact that politicians do not care about fixing the sector because they can afford to send their children abroad or to posh private schools at home. Indeed, most public schools are now derelict. The situation is worse in many of the rural communities where schools have no teachers, leaving the children to their own devices. Such is the neglect of public education at the most basic level that most of the available teachers in the country today are themselves near-illiterate.

We urge the federal government and authorities in the 36 states to reorder their priorities by paying more attention to education in terms of provision of basic infrastructure, teachers, and teaching tools. We need policies that are in sync with global trends and sensitive to our peculiar educational needs.