Declining standard of education in Nigeria, a national emergency – ACN

The Action Congress of Nigeria has called for an emergency action, a ‘Marshall Plan’ of sorts, to uplift the declining – or fully declined – standard of education in Nigeria, saying education is key to the development of any society.

In a statement issued in Accra, Ghana, on Sunday, by its National Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, the party said it is deeply worried about the recently-released results of the SSCE conducted by the National Examination Council (NECO) in November/December 2011, and that of the 2012 JAMB/UTME.
The party said: “Going by media reports, only 14.15 per cent of those who took the core subject of English Language at the NECO exam passed. Similar poor results were recorded in Mathematics and the science subjects. Also, only 25 per cent of the candidates who sat for the 2011 June/July SSCE passed at credit level.
“For 2012 JAMB/UTME, the result is even worse, with only three candidates said to have scored above 300, compared to 2,892 that scored above 300 in the 2011 exam!
“While no one is in doubt that our country’s educational system has virtually collapsed, these results serve as a wake-up call to Nigerians, whether in or out of government, to rise up and do something urgently to revamp the system. Otherwise, since no nation can develop without a well-educated workforce, all the development projects being bandied around by the government will fail.”
The ACN said while the party is not unaware of the fire brigade approach to the issue by federal and state governments in the past, those efforts amount to a mere tokenism when compared to the enormity of the problems besetting the sector today.
It added: “This is not and must not be seen as a partisan issue, but the federal government must take the lead in seeking a way out of the quagmire of a collapsed educational system, while all states, irrespective of their party affiliation, must support such efforts. Also, all other stakeholders must come on board. This is a national emergency and it does not call for any bickering or finger pointing.”
It said the poor standard of education in Nigeria has already attracted the attention of the global community, as Nigerian professionals going abroad in search of greener pastures can attest.
Most of these professionals have been subjected to ridicule under the guise of certificate evaluation by their host countries.
The party added in the statement: “Experts have identified years of neglect of the educational sector, declining expenditure on education, inadequate attention to policy frameworks, neglect of the welfare of teachers which has triggered incessant strikes, degradation of educational facilities and the massive corruption in the system as some of the factors responsible for the sorry state in which the sector has found itself today. Stakeholders should critically look at these factors and others when seeking a way out of the problem.
“We in the ACN expect to see, in the next few days, a sign that the federal government understands the implication of the declining educational standard for the nation’s overall growth and development, and that it has swung into action to restore education in Nigeria to its glorious past. We pledge the support of our party for any positive action in this regard.”