The Chairman, Senate Committee on Education, Senator Uche Chukwumerije (PDP-Abia), on Monday in Abuja, decried the poor implementation of the education budget, saying it was below 50 per cent.
Chukwumerije said this at the budget defence session of parastatal agencies and departments under the Ministry of Education.
He said: “It is regrettable that the allocation, especially for capital cost, has kept dwindling but it is even more regrettable that the level of implementation of budgets has remained below 50 per cent.
“While this holds true for all sectors, its impact on the education sector is most severe.
“It is therefore, important that the Executive Arm appreciates the imperative of releasing funds as at when due.”
Chukwumerije said that the committee gathered from its oversight functions that the education sector was grappling with infrastructure, faculty and content problems.
He, however, said that while funding might not be adequate to address all the issues, the committee had resolved to find solutions to the contents and access to contents problem.
He added: “This is so because the ultimate goal of an academic institution is to deliver effective content.”
The chairman lamented that there was yet no systematic way of ensuring the professional growth of teachers.
According to him, the need to emphasise the quality of teachers turn out from colleges of education is pertinent.
“Teacher quality is largely determined by the extent of professionalism and opportunities available for in-service training and teacher support,” he said.
While noting the need for greater commitment to policy implementation, Chukwumerije expressed concern that most education laws and policies were not being adhered to, adding: “Whether in teacher recruitment, continuous assessment or school postings, there are minimum standards that must be adhered to.
“Non-adherence to minimum standards promotes over-crowding of classrooms and recruitment of teachers not qualified to teach.”
Chukwumerije said the committee was worried that the N70.4 billion statutory transfer to the Universal Basic Education Committee was added as part of the total personnel cost for the sector.
He also said for capital cost, N49.5 billion was allocated as against N71.9 billion in 2013, showing a decrease of N22.4 billion.
He further said that N22.8 billion was allocated for overhead in 2014 as against the N23.2 billion allocated in 2013.
He said for a sector that was in dire need of improved funding, these decreases were not healthy for it.
While calling on the executive to ensure prompt release of funds, he also advised institutions and agencies to be prudent in managing funds appropriated to them.
In his presentation, the Registrar of the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board, Prof. Dibu Ojerinde, decried the reduction in the appropriation to the board.
Ojerinde appealed to the committee to appropriate more funds to it.
The proposed estimates for the education sector in 2014 is N493.4 billion as against N432.7 billion in 2013.
With an increase of over N60 billion, the education sector has 11 per cent of the total national budget.
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