Fortune and misfortune of Nigerian education sector

Education is said to be the key to success. Many who made it through today in one way or the other, education played a significant role in the attainment of their goal and others through their inborn hardworking spirit and zeal. Do we now presume that education is an additional effort individual embedded in them to have full potential that made them the personality they are today?
Virtually our focus on the topic fortunes and misfortunes of education will be brought down to our country, Nigeria, thus individual, society as well as ethnic diversity.
Recap on the current Education for All (EFA) Global monitoring reports on September 2013 ranks Nigeria as one of the countries with the highest level of illiteracy and however stated that the number of illiterate adults has increased by 10 million over the past two decades, to reach 35million.
Besides Nigeria has the highest number of out of school children put at 10.5million and thus, this premise what has the ministry of education done in an attempt to eradicate the illiteracy level in the country?
Then I ask myself, this task of making education a reality, what is role of government in attainment of this? Considering the fact other sectors that should ordinarily be supportive towards developing our education sector are comatose, the educational sector per se is endangered. The federal government till date is still at daggers drawn with the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) over the nonpayment of over N2.3bn allowances. There are also the issues of unemployment in the country which as a matter of fact has led many into frustration; the un-conducive environment for learning, overcrowded lectures in some institutions, among others.
However, parents, on the other hand, have done more harm than good towards the attainment of educating the youths, thus allowing them hawk on the streets, and engaging in unnecessary domestic work. Of course as we all know selling pure water is one of the examples we experience daily among children. But the question is where will the means of survival emanate from when sectors that should make this available are not functional?
Inversely, the negative dealings of the minority sometimes affect the majority thus stereotyping. Do we now say Nigeria as a whole has nothing to be reckoned with about the educational performance both in West Africa and world at large?
Few months back we heard of a Nigerian who is reckoned with as the best mathematician in the world, when he proved the equation which has in decades not been known.
Furthermore, both the government, educational sector coupled with others and most significantly the parents have a role to play towards the accomplishment and giving sound education to the young ones. There is the adage that posits that the ABC the little child learnt while he or she is still young will always be with them till fully grown.
The only way is to take formal and informal education serious and to aid the young ones adapt to the system, for them to be nurtured and developed on it, and I assure you the fortunes of education will be restored.

Rilwanu Ibrahim Isah,
Department of Mass Communication,
Bayero University, Kano

 

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