NEEDED: A STATE OF EMERGENCY ON EDUCATION
Nothing defines the education crisis than the revelation by JAMB that 1.4million out of 1.8million students who sat for the recent examination scored below 200. This calls for immediate national action. The revelation has exposed us to the dangers inherent in government failure to invest in education, and also bad parenting.
I could recall with nostalgia how I was brought up as a child from a poor background through values that were rooted in our culture and tradition such as hard work, productivity, honesty, chastity, decency, good neighborliness, amongst others. Unfortunately, parents today are now socialising their children into a vile culture of corruption by hiring surrogate candidates to write exams for their kids. Parents have now failed to set store by possession of virtues such as probity, honesty, perseverance, love of education, amongst others. It is disturbing!
Critical stakeholders in the educational sector, and, indeed, the society, must understand that children and youth constitute a critical aspect of the society. They must not be exposed to flawed beliefs.
Unfortunately, as against those days when corrupt and evil-minded people are viewed with contempt and disdain (irrespective of their attainments in life), our children look up to these corrupt individuals for engagement and orientation. We now glorify material possessions while moral values are vilified.
Wherever you turn to, parents and stakeholders downplay education. Parents and musicians now tell our younger ones that all the talk about education being the gate pass to a life of comfort are all lies which now reinforces that mantra “education is a scam”. Parents do not ask questions any more about their wards’ possessions. We now celebrate mediocrity, not excellence.
This mass failure in JAMB calls for not just sober reflection but immediate radical action from the Federal Ministry of Education. The government must acknowledge the fact that Nigeria’s current educational policy or even the posture of the government is neither satisfying the yearnings of its teeming youths nor delivering the needs of the labour market.
The Nigerian government must pay close attention to education. The posture of the government towards education must also change in order to encourage students to read. Libraries which are now dead must be revived and jobs be created for graduates in order to serve as motivation for younger ones. The welfare of teachers must also be prioritised.
Nigeria must be rescued!
Kazeem Olalekan Israel, Ibadan
