The Nigerian Academy of Education (NAE), has called on the government to declare a state of emergency in the education sector to holistically address the challenges in the system.
President of NAE, Prof. Kabiru Isyaku, made the call at the 38th Annual Congress, 2024, held in Abuja.
The theme of the congress was: “Nigerian Education System: Past, Present & Future.
Isyaku proposed that there is a need to declare an emergency in the education sector because it affects all other sectors of the nation’s economy.
He said that the national policy on education was last reviewed over 10 years ago, stressing that the declaration of emergency would allow the government to assemble experts for the policy review, and address challenges in the sector.
He emphasized the necessity of appropriate compensation for personnel within educational institutions, along with the timely disbursement of their salaries and other entitlements as stipulated.
“The Federal Government, at this stage of the country’s development, should not directly run Secondary Schools. Instead, FGN should only be in charge of Policy and Quality Assurance. Thus, all Federal Government Colleges should be devolved to the states with comprehensive conditions,” he said.
The keynote speaker, Prof. Alhas Maicibi Nok, of the Faculty of Education, Nasarawa State University, Keffi, called for the effective utilization of allocated funds to educational institutions in the country.
“Even though education is faced with the problem of poor funding, the major challenge is the misappropriation of the little resources allocated to the institutions,” he said.
He called for the right people to be appointed to head schools without nepotism including the Vice-chancellors. He emphasized on need for “quality teaching and learning in schools urging teachers not to teach for exams alone but for knowledge.”
The event witnessed the induction of 26 new members and the elevation of three deserving members to the Fellowship level.
The Executive Secretary of the Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund) was also honoured by the Academy in recognition of his outstanding contributions to development in Nigeria.
Lantana Nasir
Comments are closed.