Some university lecturers have charged the newly appointed Minister of Education, Professor Ruqayyah Ahmed Rufa’i, to focus on reforming the education sector despite the limited period she has in office.
Most stakeholders in the education sector believe that the sector has been corrupted by practitioners, stressing that past ministers have failed in their reform crusade.
Speaking with Campus Square, a Professor of Sociology at the University of Lagos, Lai Olurode, said the structure of education in Nigeria is in serious shambles and no matter how resourceful the new minister is, the structural limitation will constitute an obstacle to her work.
Professor Olurode stated that before her new appointment, budgetary allocation on education had been settled, and wondered how she would perform in a situation where less that 7 per cent are allocated to education whereas UNESCO has set-up about 27% for proper funding of education.
Despite shortage of fund and limited time in office, Professor Olurode however said: “I expect her to think of what can be done with the fund. She can decide to offend anybody, make them realise that she is there for a short-time and make a difference. Without this, she may likely not achieve anything.”
The former Dean of the Faculty said there is a lot of rot in the system and called on Professor Ruqayyah to look into four core issues if she truly wants to sanitise the education sector.
“Firstly, Nigeria as a county has failed to care for people in the education sector. The teachers are unhappy and they are lamenting about the way government is addressing their issues. So, if she wants to sanitize the sector, she needs to make the state caring and teachers happy and ready to restore hope in the teaching profession,” he explained.
Speaking further, Professor Olurode said students are now very reluctant to learn because they want quick money and the parents, who are expected to provide basic education for their children, are overcome by poverty. He, therefore, urged the new minister to show interest in the welfare of students.
He, however, noted that government alone cannot sanitise the education sector, calling on parents to play significant roles and show interest in the welfare of their children.
Another lecturer, Dr. Joseph Ola Awoyinfa, from Department of Education, opined that the new minister, cannot afford to fail despite the fact that she has less than a year in office.
Dr. Awoyinfa said: “She is a mother, a learned professor and former commissioner of education in her state, she can’t afford to fail”.
He wants her to lay foundation for the reform so that anybody coming after her can begin to build on it.
“As far as education is concerned in Nigeria, one salient factor we have not addressed is the issue of foundation laying and it is believed that the depth of every foundation determines the height of the building. Even, if she has just two weeks, she can still make her impact,” the Senior Educational Consultant stated.
Professor Lakin Akintola of Lagos State University (LASU) said though he doesn’t believe in the new cabinet of Acting President Goodluck Jonathan, the new education minister should concentrate on proper funding for the sector.
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