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Oby Ezekwesili and Management of
Unity Schools
By Mohammed Zayyad <zaymohd@yahoo.com>
Oct 17, 2006
Minister of education
Oby Ezekwesili submission of a proposal to President Olusegun Obasanjo,
to the effect that, private sector will have a stake in running of
Unity Schools, is generating a great deal of hullabaloo; The
Association of Senior Civil Servants of Nigeria (ASCSN), the umbrella
body of teachers, directed all teachers in the colleges to embark on an
indefinite industrial action from Monday, October 9, 2006, in its
editorial of Wednesday 11th Octobers 2006, the Guardian
newspaper called on minister Ezekwesili to tread more cautiously, and
during the recent celebration of World Teachers’ Day at eagle square,
Abuja, NLC president, Adam Oshiomhole criticized the plan by the Federal
Ministry of Education in Nigeria to bring private sector into the
running of unity schools in the country, but the minister was fast to
shed light on the plan; saying, what her ministry intends to do, is,
only transferring the ‘management’ of these schools into private
hands. The growing disapproval of Oby’s proposal is certainly
emanating from the increasing frustration, parent, teachers and
indeed pupils are going through the Nigerian system of education, while
Oby’s strong avowal in defending her plan, is certainly bound-out of the
tenacious judgments by Obasanjo’s team of reformist, believing, their
plan has the best solutions to the perpetual decay in the Nigerian
socio-economic system; though , this is the upshot of the long-time
absent of dedication in implementing impressive government programmes
and projects.
It is a known fact that,
from the late 80’s, public schools in Nigeria, have been bewildered by
government of Nigeria incessant revision of the education curriculum,
constant amending of schools calendar, and the seeming joy in altering
and introducing new system of education, these, coupled with, corruption
in the system, over-bloated overhead cost at the detriment
of academic tools, and the increasing decline in fortunes of the
Nigerian economy, are the major causes of the lapses in the education
sector. it is sickening to note that, various measures introduced by
past regimes in Nigeria and indeed the present regime of president
Obasanjo have not yield a considerable improvement in creating an
educational system that is maintainable, sustainable, reliable,
dependable and responsive to our fast changing world, though, it is too
early to start grading the present Universal Basic Education (UBE)
introduced by the government of president Obasanjo.
The
mounting public
censures on Obiageli
Ezekwesili proposal for a shift in the way the government had been
managing unity schools; are mainly out of fear of the unknown- is the
private sector coming to take-over the management of schools’
infrastructures, teachers’ welfare, and provision of teaching aids? What
will be the mode of fund sourcing? Private business organizations that
operate in the education sector are driven by commercial and profit
motives; with what face the private sector would be coming into the
management of these schools? Would the quest for profit by private
sector not mean a big increase in school fees? these questions are what
many parents and those concerned about the new proposal are asking, but
the truth is, there is a huge hole on the health of our education
system, and thus, as nation, we dearly need a means to finally construct
a plan that will solve the continuing increasing problems in our
education system, we really need a shift in the way our schools are run,
and put up a system that will provide adequate funding, help in
improving standard and quality of both teachers and students, a system
that will completely aid in shifting away from the tradition, where
government is the provider, administer, monitor and assessor of fund.
This writer is a strong
advocate of private sector greater participation in managing our
public schools; but not a ‘bulldozer’ kind of participation, where
government will surrender these schools to private entrepreneurs- where
students, teachers and parent would be at the mercy of private hands.
What we need is, there should be a ‘measured’ public private
partnership, where government should built new schools, equipped old
ones, then take a benchmark from a well-run private school on what it
cost per student head in running a school; then a gradual entrusting of
public schools to private sector, where government provides the funds
while the private sector managed it especially in the area of
infrastructures maintenance, provision of teaching tools, management of
training programmes for teachers - thus, our educational system will
be run efficiently, new sustainable jobs will be created and
government get relief from the burden of ‘ carrying the camel and its
loads’.
Oby’s proposals may be
the much awaited cure for the lingering ailment in Nigeria’s education
system, but this can not be feasible without an effective and
independent monitoring mechanism, thus, the need for better
participation of PTA, NUT, NLC, students bodies and all stakeholders
in the education sector, because private sector coming into the
management of not only Unity Schools but all other public institutions
of learning is an issue that is far beyond a one man decision or a
presidential endorsement but it requires, forensic research, greater
advocacy drive, rich debates, scrutiny and tremendous delving on the
matter from all concerned,
and we should be sincere to tell ourselves that, the seven month
remaining in office for this government is not enough to implement Oby’s
delicate proposal.
Zayyad I. Muhammad
writes Jimeta, Nigeria
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