The late great president of South Africa, Nelson Mandela, once said, “Education is the most powerful weapon you can use to change the world.” The challenges we face in Nigeria can be addressed if we adopt the right approach to education. Properly harnessed, education will not only preserve the present but guarantee the future.
The importance of the right educational values cannot be overemphasized.
Unfortunately, the educational system in Nigeria is confronted with a myriad of challenges from lack of qualified teachers, insufficient educational materials, and poor infrastructure to rising cases of examination malpractice.
We must invest in infrastructure and human resources, particularly teachers, if we desire to make meaningful progress in this area. We must appreciate the fact that the quality of teachers can make or mar the products of the educational system.
Education simplifies complex things, emboldens the people and creates opportunities for citizens to know more.
Across the country, many students learn in substandard classrooms with limited teaching and learning materials. This is not the kind of situation that will build the type of children who will be the leaders of tomorrow.
The government of the day must pay more attention to education. For better teaching and learning, kibraries should be built, furnished and equipped in our schools and cities. There must be public enlightenment on the necessity of going to study in libraries because of the serene environment and for better comprehension. Similarly, there should be a revision of the curriculum to incorporate the use of technology.
Also, most schools have no facilities for recreation and games. We must ensure a productive combination of leisure and study. As the saying goes, “All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy.”
The government must also tackle corruption in the education sector. There are unqualified teachers in many schools in the country parading themselves as well-qualified and certified. These teachers are employed because of “connection,” which means they know people in high government offices or because they can bribe officials in the school management system. To confront this problem, there must be proper regulation in the recruitment of teachers. We cannot afford to take the future of our children for granted. There must be rules and regulations and a system to ensure the enforcement of these rules and regulations.
Another major ugly trend is the issue of examination malpractice. All over the country, many people are parading certificates they can’t defend. In many institutions, students pay their way through school which isn’t right.
In the same vein, we hear cases of sexual harassment of students by teachers almost on a daily basis. There should be stiffer penalties for such offences.
We must also incorporate in our school curriculum some of the good practices from around the world.
We must create room for gifted children to excel by providing them the necessary support and infrastructure. We must also develop learning in both the sciences and the arts and prepare students with the ability to excel in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM).
Parents must guide children in making the right choices but not force them or decide for them on what subjects or courses they must study.
To help students have a rounded education, we should encourage skills acquisition.
In conclusion, we must also consider making primary and secondary education compulsory and free so that many of our poor citizens can have access to quality education which is a major building block for success in life.
We must invest in the training of teachers and provision of the right infrastructure for teaching and learning. We need to improve the living condition of our teachers and managers of the education sector.
This is the only way we can berth the kind of quality educational system we desire in Nigeria.
UZOEGBO SIXTUS CHIDERA, NIGERIAN CHILDREN’S PARLIAMENT (ANAMBRA CHAPTER). PORTFOLIO: COMMITTEE CHAIRMAN.
AGE: 17.
