BY TIMOTHY AGBOR, OSOGBO
Despite promises made by state governments to reform public education, the Nigeria Union of Teachers, parents and other stakeholders have accused governors of paying lip service to the sector.
They lamented that many states were currently battling with a shortage of teachers as those who retired hadnot been replaced through regular recruitment. They also alleged that state governments had not done enough in the area of infrastructures and that poor buildings were making public schools unattractive.
Just like in other sectors, rural areas are worst hit as students learn under terrible circumstances and in dilapidated classrooms.
Almost all Nigerian governors have reiterated their commitments to transforming public education in their domains. One of them, Governor Ademola Adeleke of Osun State expressed his administration’s readiness to address the low performance of students from the state in national examinations, bemoaning the current standing of the state in public examinations.
Adeleke said his government was focused on reversing the current poor standing of the state in public examinations and placing it between number one and 10 on performance rating by giving “urgent attention to the learning environment, learning tools and teacher-student question.”
But, in separate interviews with teachers, parents and education-support organisations, they claimed that the state governors had not been matching their words with actions. They expressed concern about shortage of teachers, saying many governors had refused to recruit new teachers to replace retired ones. Rather, some governors were sacking teachers and playing politics with education, the stakeholders alleged.
They also pointed out that infrastructural decay in government-owned schools across the country was alarming, disclosing that schools now tried to close the gap with volunteers and others who were not professionally trained in pedagogy.
For instance, in Osun State, Governor Adeleke had, upon assumption of office, sacked about 1,500 teachers employed by his predecessor, Gboyega Oyetola in the twilight of his administration, because the latter allegedly breached due process in engaging them.
The state NUT Chairman, Muritala Fatade, said public schools in the state were expressing a drastic shortfall in the number of teachers needed, urging the governor to reinstate sacked teachers and also employ more.
He said, “I would implore the state government to please, reinstate the 1,500 sacked teachers that took the normal procedures in getting the job. They should please reinstate anyone that follows the due process in the course of their employment.
“I also want to appeal to the government to employ many more teachers in our schools to boost the standard of education in Osun State. I am well informed that our governor is interested in improving the results of students in our schools. This, he will achieve by employing more teachers.”
On infrastructure, Fatade said some school buildings were dilapidated, adding that the schools were also lacking adequate teaching materials.
“In the area of infrastructure, in terms of buildings, we are fairly okay but we still have some dilapidated buildings in our schools. Also, the teaching materials are not adequate. We are appealing to the state government to provide teaching materials in order to aid teaching and learning in our schools,” he appealed.
Notwithstanding that Gombe State Government, through its Teaching Service Commission, recruited about 1,000 teachers, out of 5000 that applied last year, many teachers complained that secondary schools in the state were still facing the problem of inadequate teachers. Many of those who were employed lamented that they had not been paid.
Other stakeholders, including the United Nations Children’s Fund, contended that the appalling conditions of public schools had contributed in causing many students to drop out of school, while those who managed to cope had been facing difficulty in accessing quality education.
UNICEF Representative in Nigeria, Cristian Munduate, noted that 75 per cent of primary school age pupils were unable to read with understanding or solve a simple mathematics problem.
She said, “The education sector in Nigeria faces many challenges. One of these challenges is access to quality learning, which is inhibited by low domestic spending on education, resulting in limited school infrastructure and qualified teachers, high levels of poverty and social norms not supportive of education,especially for girls. These challenges are exacerbated by attacks on schools and abduction of learners.
Both have made parents fearful of sending their children to school.
“The disruption to education by school attacks has meant millions of children have significantly missed out on learning they would have acquired if they had been in the classroom. More than 10 million children are not in school at the primary level. For those in school, the quality of learning is poor.”
Some of the parents who spoke with The Point, in their separate interviews, urged state governments to wake up and “desist from paying lip service to education matters in the country.”
A parent, Dara Adedapo, claimed that governors, rather than improving the public education sector, were making it unattractive to learners.
“Our state governors are to be blamed for the rot in public schools. As you can see, the private schools are thriving with their increasing numerical strength and quality. The number of teachers is decreasing fastly in public schools and nothing is being done by our governors. Whenever we attend Parents and Teachers Association meetings, we always discuss these issues. We have to contribute money to pay some volunteers because there is shortage of teachers.
“Talking of infrastructure, we are backward. Most state governments lack maintenance culture for the structures on ground and they are decaying. Our students complain that rain beat them inside their classrooms. Oftentimes, they hardly see teachers to attend to them. Our villages and other rural communities are worse affected and something urgent needs to be done to rescue public education,” he submitted.
