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By El-Okene Adabara Abduljelil
Former president of South Africa, Nelson Mandela once said, “Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world’’
This is absolutely true, think about a world where everyone is educated or has knowledge; we would not be racists, clannish, or tribalists. We would not hate fellow human beings simply because they are doing better than us, we would not be involving ourselves in many activities that don’t add any value to our lives or other peoples’ lives.
In addition, we would not be deceived by anyone calling himself or herself a servant of God, yet behaving otherwise. Educated people are equipped with analytical skills and would not just believe whatever politicians tell us.
Enlightenment empowers us to critique issues before we can accept anything without second thoughts. We need education, our children and the generation to too need that if we are to live in a beautiful country. Looking back at the previous administrations under Late Prince Abubakar Audu, Alhaji Ibrahim Idris and Captain Idris Wada regimes, education wasn’t taken as a priority. Primary education which is the foundation of education was left to collapse completely under their watch. Primary school teachers became lazy due to the delay in payment of their salaries which resulted into incessant strikes actions. Public school became so boring and lack of interest in education increased to 73%. Private School with WASCE holders took over from government schools. Schools like Okene Secondary School, Upogo can’t boast of over 100 students despite the fact that the school is now boys and girls with less than 11 permanent teachers if not the 2015 appointment made in TSC that jacked-up numbers of school teachers in most secondary schools across the state, yet the fate of those newly employed teachers is at stake.
Kogi State as of today is littered all around with dilapidated schools buildings according to the chairman house committee on education, no thanks to the previous bad governments. Many schools in Kogi state today cannot boast of a standard laboratory not to talk of an ICT Centre. The world is changing and we must be ready to change too. We cannot produce 21st century students when we are still using the 19th century methods of teaching and learning.
While I cannot blame Alh. Yahaya Bello administration for the present situations of things in Kogi State as regard the standard of education, I will encourage His Excellency to make education one of your priorities. The prosperous countries in recent times are not countries that rely on oil, agriculture as the major source of revenue, as we can see; but they are country that are investing in ICT to transform their education sector so as to produce citizens that can solve problems by leveraging on the power of the ICT.
You may have many reasons to continue to blame the past administrations for the present situation but it surely will not change anything. Our major concern now should be what can be done to rescue our education sector from the sorry situation it is presently. Something actually must be done as soon as possible. Government-Private Partnership and Let Girls Learn Initiative should be launched in order to come up with lasting solutions. According to Michelle Obama “We need to get these girls into school, because we know that education is the single-most important stepping stone to power, to freedom, and to equality.” To educate a girl is to build a healthier family, a stronger community, and a brighter future. Unfortunately today, more than 62 million girls around the world are not in school—half of whom are adolescents
From my personal research, the followings are the problems facing Kogi State Education Sector and I will also suggest what can be done to solve the problems;
Lack of Motivation for teachers: am aware that your government is currently owing teachers months of salaries and this as a matter of fact has continued to strengthen the repetitive strike witnessed in the state. While I know there is a reduction in the state allocation and the country also presently in recession. The incessant strike is really affecting the students’ performance as they are not well taught by their teachers and sometimes are being rushed as the teachers try to cover the entire syllabus despite all the time wasted during the strike.
There is crucial need for conducive learning environment: Creating a conducive learning environment is as important as learning itself. There is need to improve the learning environment across the state. Improved classroom environment will certainly produce positive results. A lot of schools are in need of urgent renovations.
Insufficient Learning Facilities: A lot of schools in the state cannot boast of a standard library, a science laboratory, an ICT centre and so forth. Providing these facilities will not only aid students’ success in various examinations, it will also provide a platform where they can learn more and develop themselves beyond what is taught in the classrooms.
Inconsistent Training for Teachers: There is a need to continue to empower teachers with information and teachings tools through intensive trainings as required of the 21st century. There is also a need to train teachers on the use of digital and technological teaching tools so as to improve their productivity.
While there are a lot of problems facing the education sector, I believe that addressing the above highlighted factors will lead to a new dawn of progress in Kogi State and in upholding of the hard-earned intellectual heritage we are known for in the country and the world at large. By all means the Digital-Governor, we must not allow the kogites drained. Kogi State shall rise again and we will never cease from being a land of honor— an abode.
I must commend His Excellency for the new order given at security meeting held in Okene that any students seen on the street should be apprehended. The era of 9-11 is over.
– Comrade Adabara Abduljelil El-Okene,
Secretary General,
Ebira Youths Peace/Educational Development Initiative, Okene, Kogi State. Nigeria.
Contact on 08036415151 or 08050474500
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