Strikes in varsities portend danger - Yoruba Education Trust Fund

MEMBERS of the Council of the Yoruba Education Trust Fund (YETFUND) on Tuesday, in Lagos, warned that the current crises in the education sector were dangerous omen for the society and national development. The chairman of the council, Senator Olabiyi Durojaiye, who address the press on behalf of other members, decried that the four-month strike by members of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) and their counterparts in polytechnics had dire consequences for the country. He pleaded with the Federal Government and the striking ASUU members to quickly resolve their differences in the interest of the younger generation and the country, as the strike had continued to expose the youths to societal ills and vices. He said the prolonged shutting down of public varsities portended danger because students were being denied their right to education. “It is sad to note that none of our public universities have measured up to standards even in Africa, as our Universities have not been highly rated in the regular global ratings. This is because they lack the basic facilities, amenities, conducive environment, and the basic infrastructure to place them on the global map. We certainly still have a long way to go if we want to measure up to standards,” Senator Durojaiye stated. The chairman said the educational problems facing Yorubaland was owing to consistent, rapid and dangerous decline in the quality of education and the quantity of its infrastructural support, starting from the cradle/crèche to tertiary institutions. He recalled that in 2012, more than 60 per cent of secondary schools in Nigeria were rated as sub –standard when measured against international norms, even as he noted that similar deficiencies apply to all the other tiers of the educational system. He added that the poor systemic trend was compounded by students’ laziness and parents’ lackadaisical attitude towards their children’s education, as well as ineffective teaching by so-called teachers. He lamented that none of the public universities had measured up to standards even in Africa, based on global ratings, because they lacked the basic facilities, amenities, conducive environment, and the basic infrastructure to place them on the global map, adding “We certainly still have a long way to go if we want to measure up to standards.” However, he noted that there was an improvement in the 2013 results over the previous year, as most state governments took up the challenge to improve the quality of the education sector, but he solicited increased funding for the Education sector to fight regional and global education crisis. To unlock education’s transformative power, he said the new development goals should further ensure that all children benefited equally not only from primary education but also from good quality education at the secondary level. While commending South-West governors for placing education on the front burner, he nonetheless declared that the Yoruba could not go the whole hug alone. Senator Durojaiye urged the authorities to make sure that the $500m global lifeline for education in Nigeria pledged by the United Nations special envoy Gordon Brown to support development of universal basic education, training of teachers and introduction of new technologies was properly “utilised for the purpose for which it was released so that the education sector will be the better for it.”