Lawrence Nwimo, Awka
Professor Stella Okunna, a renowned educationist and Nigeria’s first female Professor of Mass Communication, has called for proper funding of the education sector in South-East Nigeria.
Okunna made the call when she featured as keynote speaker at the August edition of the popular Ikengaonline monthly townhall meeting on Thursday.
Speaking on the topic, “Education, Mentoring and Career Building in the South-East,” Okunna said that funding is a crucial factor in elevating the performance and standard of learning for the development of the region.
According to her, lack of adequate funding has been a major challenge in the education sector, leading to poor infrastructure, inadequate resources, and low quality of education in the region.
She stressed that without adequate funding, it would be difficult to address the myriad of issues affecting the education system in the South-East.
“The best way to improve any human being with the necessary skills and knowledge required to make life any meaningful is through education which can be either formal or informal.
“In both formal and informal, the Igbo have a high premium on education and our people reap bountiful benefits from this high premium which they placed on formal learning.
“Our love and reverence for formal education are legendary, so much so that in times past, education was a priority. Poverty and lack of capacity was no hindrance to acquiring education.
“We remember with nostalgia and love, how Igbo communities put through or educated children whether their parents were poor or rich. Once one is a brilliant Igbo child or person, the community will fund the education to whatever level.
“Even after gaining independence, our love for education still persisted and education occupied a pride of place in the South-East, fueled by personalities like Michael Okpara and the likes who were unselfish and good leaders.
“Michael Okpara invested heavily in education and we reaped the rewards. Those days, education was funded by the government, community, individuals, and even the church. The quality was also very high.
“However, in this post-war era, education in the South-East leaves a lot to be desired. Governments have failed woefully to take care of the schools and consequently education nosedived.
Okunna, who is the current Deputy Vice-Chancellor of Paul University Awka, said to perform well as a state in education, funding is key. She pointed out that UNESCO recommended minimum percentage for education in every annual budget, but regretted that both federal and state governments budgets for education in 2024 still fall short of standard
She urged state governors to prioritise education and allocate more resources to the sector in order to improve the quality of education and provide better opportunities for the youths in the region.
