Blame Parents, Government For State Of Education, Says Ikuforiji

The Speaker of Lagos State House of Assembly, Adeyemi Ikuforiji, has accused parents and the government of contributing to the sad state of education in the country.

Ikuforiji, who gave a lecture at the fifth convocation of the Lagos City Polytechnic recently, stressed that the state of tertiary education in Nigeria is not anything to write home about.

He noted that the lack of good education in the country has further led to unemployment just as it has contributed to many social ills, including prostitution, and breakdown of law and order.

He explained that there has been a public outcry on the continued decline in the standard of education in the country, especially as indicated in public examinations and graduates that are unemployable.

Part of the problems facing the educational sector, according to him, included poor and inadequate funding by government; recruitment of unqualified teaching staff; poor teaching aids; poor teaching and learning environment; poor remuneration for teachers; and lack of good and current books in libraries.

Other factors, he said, included “lack of chemicals, instruments and equipment in the laboratory; absence of conducive environment for learning; inconsistent and contradictory policies on education, educational policies that are not channelled towards the domestic needs of the country; cutting corners by students, parents, teachers for their wards to excel at all costs, no matter how illegitimate and immoral.

“The government should adopt necessary policies to change the current unwholesome value in the system within the society and create a conducive environment that would enable educational institutions to engage in healthy competitions.

“For this sordid state of affairs in the education sector to be turned around for the best, there must be pursuit of free and compulsory education at least at the primary school level.

“Government must fund education better and make the development of education top priority,” he said.