As part of the President Bola Tinubu-led administration’s Renewed Hope Agenda more attention is being paid to education, especially as regards consequences of insecurity and other factors, SUNNY IDACHABA writes.
There is a popular saying that, ‘If you think education is expensive, try ignorance’. This means that a society gets enlightened through education, but gropes in the dark when the citizens neither know their left from their right because of illiteracy.
That is why it is said that in a society of educated people, those educated ones are light bearers because they show the way for others to follow. It is for this reason that advanced countries and developed nations give priority to education by the extent of values they place on their teachers. In such societies, the most valuable assets are teachers after doctors and everything is often done to uphold that standard. From every indication therefore, Nigeria seems to be on a trajectory of boosting her educational sector.
According to the minister of education, Prof Tahir Mamman, the federal government is doing everything possible to upscale the priority of teachers welfare. He said, “A committee with UNESCO and World Bank has been set up to review teachers’ support and welfare using global best practices so that teachers can be happy with the quality of education and delivery modules.”
Since May 2023 when the present administration mounted the saddle, the government has shown in many ways through its actions and body language that education occupies a prominent position in the Renewed Hope agenda of the administration.
While delivering his ministerial scorecards recently, the minister flanked by his minister of state, Yusuf Tanko Sununu and other senior staff of the ministry and agencies, said matters that bother on education has never left the table of the president since he assumed office, the reason he said were responsible for the strides recorded so far.
According to him, bearing in mind the gap between out-of school children in contrast with those in school, as soon as the administration came on, the government embarked on aggressive drive to ensure that a good number of children that were hitherto excluded from education due to conflicts and no fault of theirs return to school. To that extent, he said from 2023 to now, a total of four million out-of-school children have been enrolled into schools in all the states of the federation, including the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).
He noted that enrolment of children in basic education and non-formal education also increased from 30 to 55 million. He also announced that four million children would be taken off the streets annually for the next three years even as he said 40,000 facilities for various schools at basic and non formal education and 6,500 boarding facilities equiped with auditorium, classrooms and hostels have been set up.
“We have been able to capture four million out-of- school children through four agencies. In this, 20,000 young children were registered in Abuja in the last two weeks. With the number achieved in the last one year, four million children would be brought out annually in the next three years.”
Loans and scholarships
According to the minister, every form of encouragements are being done to ensure that no Nigerian child is deprived of education and that is why he said attention has also been focused on scholarship for indigent ones.
“Scholarships in the last one year have been given to 759,000 qualified students of which some were internal and some external from various ministries and agencies. We have also added the number of tertiary institutions in order to address the issues surrounding accessibility and to cater to the teeming population of admission seekers. So far, monies owed the foreign students have been released and paid to the beneficiary institutions so that the students can continue with their studies.”
This is why the establishment of Nigeria Education Loan Fund (NELFUND) to bolster government’s effort at making education easier for Nigerian youths in public higher institutions is another mileage of the administration in that regard. Since it commenced operation, NELFUND has disbursed institutional fees for students in public higher institutions like Ahmadu Bello University Zaria, University of Ibadan, University of Benin and others that have applied.
As at the last count, over one billion naira was already disbursed on behalf of students to various institutions which the NELFUND management said was precisely 1,72388340 to 20,000 students in the first phase of the students loan scheme.
Its managing director Mr Akintunde Sawyer gave further insights when he also announced that a new scheme to be known as Skills Acquisition Programme for youths who are not willing to embrace the four walls of higher institutions are being worked out to ensure that NELFUND does not only favour those in higher institutions, but also those who for one reason or the other do not wish to further their studies, but are willing to embrace a skill.
“This is a significant milestone as the government intends to make higher education accessible to all Nigerians irrespective of backgrounds.
“We have seen renewed forces in youth education and wholly worthy of commendation to the president because of his belief on Nigerian students and a testament to government’s commitment to education and the fortunes of our youths. By investing in them, we are indirectly investing in Nigeria,” he said.
Show of appreciation
A 300-level student from ABU Zaria, Lami Sabo who is a beneficiary of the students loans expressed happiness that at last, she can complete her studies. Speaking in tears, she said, “I want to use this opportunity to thank the government for not only paying my school fees, but has given me stipend for my upkeep. I am from Kaduna state, but I lost my father last year when bandits attacked my community in Kachia. I was in school when it happened; somehow, they did not kill my mum, but killed my dad and two of my siblings. Since then, no sponsor. I was just able to pay part of my last session fees through contributions from my course mates. I have been wondering how I can continue. So when our students youth leader told me about this NELFUND, I did not believe it, but I applied through the portal and now I just got the confirmation that my fees have all been paid. My mum can now rest because she said even if she would go naked for me to complete my education, she is willing to, but I feel her pains. I really want to thank the government and NELFUND for doing for me what my father would have done if he was alive.”
War against strikes
It could be recalled that as part of his inaugural speech on May 29 2023, President Bola Tinubu stressed that policy frameworks would be adopted to ensure that strikes are eliminated in the ivory towers and other levels of education. As a follow up, some parts of the contractual agreements previous government entered into and signed with the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) are about being addressed especially as they concerned the release of withheld salaries.
When therefore ASUU issued a one-month strike notice a few days ago over a few unattended matters that concerned the 2009 agreement, the ministry responded immediately in order to live up to the promise that strikes of any kind would be a thing of the past in the sector. To that extent, a parley with the union was arranged for August 26 (even though could not hold due to certain constraints).
Prof Mamman however agreed with the union about their demands some of which he said are historical having been there since 1981. He however said the ministry is working to resolve those issues in line with the mandate of the president against strikes.
“We have already invited them to come on Monday and after the meeting, we are hoping that it will not reach the extent whereby they’ll go on strike.
“They’ve been paid 50 per cent of allowances withheld based on court judgement. We are working to resolve the issues to ensure that the mandate of the president when he assumed office is met.”
Embracing digitisation
In view of the compelling need to embrace digitisation in learning, the ministry, through the Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC) embarked on aggressive digitisation of basic schools in what is now known as Smart Schools across states of the country. So far, 12 of such schools have been commissioned with remaining ones to be commissioned before the end of the year as centres for teaching teachers and pupils in digital learning.
Before reaching this level, Prof Mamman had earlier in the year unveiled the Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC) Digital Resource Centre with a view to providing smart learning environment for students and teachers.
At the ceremony he said the centre was second to none in the world as according to him, “There couldn’t have been a better time to develop digital technology in education than now, especially as the present administration of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu is looking at building vocational institutions across the country.”
He said everything would be done to ensure the timely upgrading of the centre to ensure quality delivery for what it is worth.
It is hoped that this momentum would be sustained in order to attain UNESCO standards.
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