Opinion: The 836 sacked Edo teachers deserve their fate
The saying goes: "Give me a child until he is seven, and I will give you the man", the memo obviously got lost in transit prior to getting to Nigeria. If we cannot mould and prepare our young for the future then how can we then prepare them for adulthood or mould them into useful and productive citizens?
What we have instead, is perpetually feeding them a diet that lacks formal and informal training. For that we have produced a country full of capricious young adults who are ill equipped and cannot make any discernible contribution to Nigeria's future. The state and federal government have not provided funds in real terms for equipment, technology and libraries to schools. Our country has failed miserably to invest in our young to give them a quality education that will set them up for the rest of their lives. This persistent neglect is robbing our young of any potential to grow, develop and improve their lot and most importantly lift most out of poverty.
We have got so embroiled in our daily greed, survival and hustle mode that we can't see the woods for the trees. There is no easy way out, we will all suffer from this wanton neglect as Nigeria languishes in the doldrums and our young people are denied a useful and sustainable future. How can we complain of a country overran by murderers, vacuous individuals, rent-a-mob hoodlums, thieves and half-baked scammers? That's what the country gets when it fails to educate its young.
The quality of a country's educational system should be an effective indicator of the country's progress, industrious and technological might. Above all, a good education breeds stable, rounded individuals, forward thinking, and a better standard of living for a progressive and civilized citizens and nation.
Recently, a head of a Lagos State secondary school, Ikeja Grammar School, was suspended for exposing the pitiful condition of students in her care; students were shown sitting on windows and concrete blocks in a classroom no better than a shed. Of course, the Lagos State Commissioner for Education was quick to defend the indefensible; that her ministry was aware of the issue of the bad furniture in the school. She quipped that the school will be supplied with furniture, this did not happen. She should have been sacked and her ministry summarily culled for their appalling treatment of students and schools. This is the norm and rather than the exception. Well, the federal and other state government needs to look across Osun State; if they can do it, so can every state up and down the country.
What our young people need is a quality assured educational system; up to date, an incentive bursary for trainee teachers and a good retention package for brilliant teachers, open and transparent examination and admissions of students to local schools.
Performance linked salary to retain exceptional head teachers, effective class size, efficient teaching and learning environment, standardized curriculum, satisfactory equipment and furniture, an independent school inspectoral body and most importantly, a free and accessible education to all young people regardless of class, religion and tribe.
