By Nwaorgu
Faustinus
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| author |
What is the trend now are the comments, analyses, advice,
suggestions, opinions and articles against and for the legality behind the
dissolution of the 27 LGAs by the new administration in Imo State.
Now that the parties involved (the state government
and the dissolved Council LGAs) are locked in a legal battle over the
dissolution of the Council Areas, which is the constitutional thing to do, one
can not forget in a hurry the first casualties of Oweelle Rochas’s action as he
assumed office which political analysts and observers say will ever remain
indelible in the minds of many. The court having taken over the case, there
should be cessation of comments because a case or dispute as the above is not
trashed out on pages of newspapers or internet based media sites but in a
competent court of law.
The kernel of this piece is the challenges or
Herculean tasks that stare the state government in the face with respect to the
education sector, which are multifaceted given the lean resources at its
prudent use. One major area Chief Rochas Okorocha must take proactive step to
tackle the education sector among other sectors. The importance of education is
so invaluable that any state, society country or nation cannot toy with it.
Education without mincing words is enlightenment and avenue of advancement
which ought to be sustained for generation as according to Sunday Atomode, “it
is a legacy which when bestowed cannot be withdrawn on any account except
perhaps through inhuman degradation of brainwashing or disease that cause
memory lost”. Therefore, education remains the upholder of the expectation,
hope and yearnings for the poorest of the poor of society.
Without doubt, it is the eternal bequest any society,
government, administration or nation can give its citizen or natives. It is
therefore a commendable first step taken by the governor when he announced that
his government will give free education to primary and secondary school
students as well as review downwards school fees paid in higher institutions as
part of his party’s campaign promise and education policy.
To achieve its education policy, the security votes of
the Governor, Deputy Governor, the Speaker, Deputy Speaker, the Chief Judge and
House Members was cut from 6.5 billion naira to 2.5 billion naira. Given the
premium the governor attaches to education, unlike previous administrations, he
toured many several primary and secondary schools to have first hand
information about the state of affairs in the educational institutions which are
in great pathetic situation, capable of making one sigh, sad and wonder why the
schools are the way they are.
Given the deplorable state of most public primary and
secondary schools in Imo
State, one wonders if the
free education policy of the current administration is a way of declaring a
state of emergency in that sector. If it is not, a total war should be
unleashed in the sector bearing in mind the mammoth decay in our citadels of
learning across the various Local Government Areas.
A visit to most schools will reveal great decay in
infrastructure such as school buildings, libraries, classrooms, toilets,
laboratories among others. Amala/Ntu Secondary School in Ngor/Okpala LGA can be
used as a good reference point of a school that has witnessed infrastructural
decay and neglect by previous administration on one hand and vandalism at the
other. Apart from these, there is depopulation of staff and students’
population in many rural primary and secondary schools, inadequate teaching
materials and furniture. In the time past, it was a tradition and, or government
policy to equip schools with seats but today most students, if not all go to
market to purchase
seats they use in school.
In addition
to free education given to primary and secondary school students, the present
administration should as a matter of urgency renovate and build new structures
that will accommodate new students, poor students who dropped out of school and
students who will leave private schools soon for public schools as a result of
the introduction of free education in the state. Similarly, old or non
functional principal and teachers quarters should be renovated and new ones
built to accommodate some categories of teachers.
Furthermore,
the governor should put a programme of action in place with a view to making it
compulsory for teachers to live in the school environment in order to monitor
the behaviour of students apart from being available to assist them solve
academic problems that are related to subjects they teach. Their salary should be paid as at when
due and promotion extended to deserving ones to encourage them put in their
best.
On the
issue of limited number of staff in some primary and secondary schools, the
state government should deploy more teachers to schools where their services
are needed as there are schools that lack teachers who will teach certain
subjects. Lateness to school should not be tolerated as there should be
mechanism put in place to monitor teachers. In this regard, unscheduled visits
should be paid to schools where the culture of late coming has been established
with a view to punishing culprits to serve as a deterrent to others. If need
be, teachers who are perpetual late comers should be dismissed. Students who come to school late should also
be punished adequately to discourage others from doing the same.
Security in
and around state public schools especially primary and secondary schools should
be encouraged by way of providing security guards for the schools to protect
life and property. Apart from security, the state government should equip
libraries, introductory technology workshops, science laboratories among others
in state public schools. It is now the trend to set up computer laboratories to
encourage the teaching of computer in primary and secondary schools. The state
government should key into this by establishing computer laboratory in the
schools.
There
should be training and retraining of teachers so as to gain effective means of
imparting knowledge into the students. This will go along way in making the
students to compete favourably with their counterparts abroad.
Finally, the state government if
need be, should borrow a leaf from the education policy of Rivers State
government if the words of Mr. Abdulwaheed Omar, President of Nigerian Labour
Congress (NLC) is any thing to go by. According to him, "As a professional
teacher I can testify that the new schools built by the administration are a
reflection of focused leadership. As a teacher I am highly impressed with this
kind of school facilities provided by the Rivers State
Government for its children."
It could be
recalled that governor Amaechi declared state of emergency in the education
sector when he assumed the administration of Rivers State.
Today, he has given a facelift to the sector.
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