Moves to restore quality of education
Stephen Ukandu, Umuahia
National Association of Nigeria Students, NANS, has regretted that no fewer than 10.5 million students had dropped out of school due to high cost of education.
National Treasurer of NANS, Comrade Chinyelu Okolie who disclosed this at a press conference at the Michael Okpara University of Agriculture Umudike, MOUAU, also identified insecurity as another challenge threatening education in Nigeria.
She lamented that over 1000 students had been kidnapped from schools between 2021 and 2022 alone.
The Treasurer was flanked by NANS Secretary, zone F, Comrade Frank Orji; Secretary Joint Campus Council, Precious Ozor; Abia State NANS Secretary, Precious Chiegeiro, among others during the press conference.
“There is high level of insecurity in most of our campuses leading to several reports of kidnapping, theft and death in the students community. It’s horrendous to recount that over 1000 students were abducted from Nigerian schools in the last two years,” she lamented.
NANS regretted that rising cost of education had led to many students dropping out of school, and said that the ugly trend if not halted, posed grave danger to the future of Nigeria.
“Low income earners are unable to pay for their children’s tuition fees, thus, discouraging them from acquiring basic education.”
“Nigeria’s educational system is under severe threat of total collapse and continuous decline,” NANS warned.
“A country without value for education is a threat to its future,” NANS said.T
The umbrella students body attributed the sad development to inadequate funding, incessant strike actions by both academic and non academic staff, tribalism, quota system, among others.
NANS which regretted that students now spend longer years than necessary due to incessant strike actions called for better ways of resolving disputes between university staff and Government instead of resorting to strike.
They noted that education is the passport to opportunities, and in turn, should be the basic fundamental right of every citizen, “but unfortunately, education in Nigeria is bedeviled with myraid of challenges.”
The students further regretted that over the years, Nigeria’s education sector has been allocated much lower than the 26% of the national budget recommended by the United Nations.
“Most of our institutions’ Infrastructure are dilapidated and are mostly inconvenient for practical classes as should be hence, we are left with theories rather than sufficient practice, thereby denying us the opportunity to compete favourably with other countries of the world,” they agonised.
NANS appealed to major stakeholders in the education sector to identify better ways of tackling challenges militating against education instead of resorting to measures capable undermining the future of students.
NANS appealed to Nigerians, lovers of education across the world, religious leaders and other stakeholders to support the efforts towards salvaging education in the country.
Meanwhile, NANS has said it would on July 28, flag off a nationwide campaign to restore the quality and standard of education across Nigerian schools.
