Bwacha Wants Pro-active Measures to Stem Decline in Education Standards

By Wole Ayodele in Jalingo

Deputy Senate Minority Leader, Senator Emmanuel Bwacha, has stated that there is an urgent need for stakeholders in the education sector to come up with proactive measures to halt the falling standard of education in the country. 

Addressing participants at an educational summit organised by Strategic Education Intervention Group in Wukari yesterday, Bwacha described the level of decline in the standard of education as very alarming, saying something drastic has to be done to reverse it. 

Lamenting the decadence in the country’s educational sector particularly, Bwacha, representing Taraba South senatorial district, said the problems have permeated every facet of the country’s socio-cultural and political life. 

He particularly noted that the emphasis being placed on certificate rather than skill and competency has given rise to indiscriminate rush to acquire certificate without passing through the proper channels. 

He stated that too emphasis being placed on certificate without commensurate capacity and skills has destroyed the fabrics of the Nigerian society with square pegs being placed in round holes. 

He lamented that the rush to acquire certificates had led to a sharp increase in examination malpractices which according to him is being perpetrated by almost all the stakeholders in the sector including schools and parents. 

He specifically revealed that most privately owned schools engage in stiff competition to out do each other in examination malpractices in order to woo parents to bring their wards to their schools thereby gaining unmerited advantage over other schools. 

Insisting that the entire country is in a dilemma over the crisis in the sector, Bwacha warned that the future of the country is in grave danger if urgent measures are not taken to halt the slide particularly Taraba south which according to him used to be the academic backbone of the state in times past.