By Dr. (Mrs.) Veronica Ogbuagu

First, I wish to congratulate the great APC family for withstanding the heat from the Peoples Democratic Party, when the merger was on, after the merger and during the presidential campaign. I salute you all for your doggedness. To our president elect Gen. Muhammadu Buhari, I am proud of you. The smear campaign didnt deter you. Your silence demonstrated that you are a great leader. A man of integrity. I salute you for your calmness and wisdom; To our great leader, Chief Bola Tinubu I salute you for your doggedness and courage; To Rotimi Ameachi, I salute you for your resilience and courage as well; To Lair Muhammed, – A very articulate man, I salute you for defending the party at all times; To all APC governors, I salute you all for your developmental strides in your respective states.

A few months from now our president elect would be sworn in as the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. Nigerians are anxious to see the president solve all our problems with a magic wand. They are waiting patiently for the president to take us from the present state of hopelessness to the state of hope. We must not loose sight of the fact that, the All Progressives Congress is a reaction to the corruption and bad governance of PDP, and so Mr. Presidents slogan should read serve the people, and not share the money. We are grateful to God that Gen. Muhammadu Buhari has a zero tolerance to corruption. He must fight corruption to a stand still. He must be prepared to step on toes and not be caged like President Goodluck Jonathan. As a change agent, he must be seen as making effort to change the corrupt system. It cannot and should not be business as usual. Nigerians are living in abject poverty, why? Because of bad governance.

The first thing I think the president elect should, do is to identify reform minded people and experienced political operators. Your cabinet must be reformers who are also relatively in-corruptible because your first task is to fight corruption.

We have a couple of problems. We have problems in the education industry, electricity, security of lives and properties, youth restiveness, un-employment, lawlessness, public health sector, bad roads etc. These problems are not insurmountable, they present an opportunity for us to serve and do better than previous generation of leaders. Doing better is the only option we have because business as usual will only lead us to more problems, more tension. Nigerians want change. I join other Nigerians to tell our president elect what we would like him to do with regards to the education industry.

In Nigeria, education is never a priority to our politicians. Our governments at all levels seem not to care a hoot about leaving a legacy of poorly educated or even illiterate youths to take over in a century where the development of the intellect and its optimal use rule the world. Education is the peoples only defence against leaders that would do them harm. Education is the most vital sector in any nation. No nation can make any progress without education. This is a fact recognized everywhere in the world. In whatever direction we look, we find that education is a powerful means of social progress. Anyone working with it is working with probably the most powerful instrument man has yet devised for his own improvement. A nation without proper and qualitative education at the primary and secondary levels, is a nation in danger and in decay. The education system of Nigeria has faced a lot of challenges and operational bias.

The greatest problem facing the education industry in Nigeria is inadequate funding, which led to other set backs that have virtually killed the system. Both at the federal and state levels, the amount voted for education fail to adequately address the funding of this vital sector. There is no denying the fact that education is very poorly funded in Nigeria, which is yet to comply with the UNESCO recommendation that 26% of annual budget be spent on education. Nigeria spends less than 9% of her annual budget on education.

In 2012, Nigeria spent less than nine percent of its annual budget on education when smaller African nations like Botswana spent 19.0%, Swaziland spent 24.6%, Lesotho, 17.0%, South Africa, 25.8%, Cote DIvoire, 30.0%, Burkina Faso, 16.8%, Ghana, 31%, Kenya, 23.0%, Uganda, 27.0%, and Tunisia, 17.0%. There should be an upward revision of the budget to meet the 26 percent recommended by UNESCO. Our universities should be well funded, there should be provision of infrastructure and facilities, academic freedom, improved staff welfare to attract the best hands and discourage brain drain.

Nigeria loses over N1.5 trillion annually to foreign educational institutions. The craze for foreign university certificates has been on the increase. APC government can change this trend, by funding our universities. I think weve gotten stuck because we expect people who dont know anything about the industry and are in offices to solve our problems. We try the same things, again and again, new ministers are sworn in, new ideas, workshop, conferences and they dont seem to work. So we try them again, hoping that this time they will. But we should all remember the old definition of insanity: doing the same thing over and over, expecting a different result it doesnt need to be this way. instead of repeatedly playing, and losing the same old game, maybe its time to change the rules. Maybe it is time to try some new approaches to solve our greatest education problems.

In my own opinion, lack of professional leadership in the Federal and State Ministries of Education is a major problem in the education sector. Quite frankly, the problems and demands of Education are so enormous, technical and professional, that it required professionals or persons highly dedicated, intelligent, experienced, creative and committed to education to provide the kind of leadership that can move education forward in the country. The various Ministries of Education in Nigeria can be likened to the Ministries of Health where you have medical professionals such as Pharmacists, Nurses, Obstetricians, Gyaenacologists, Surgeons, Dentists, etc. But unlike the Ministries of Health, the Ministries of Education at both the federal and state levels lack professionals in various aspects of education. It is therefore important for the Ministries of Education to be made up of professionals who specialize in various aspects of education including those with teaching qualifications who, as inspectors and supervisors can provide professional leadership. Professional areas which must be covered by the Ministries of Education include Educational Management and Administration, Curriculum Studies, Measurement and Evaluation, Special Education, Teacher Education, Educational Planning, etc. Professionals in these areas are the caliber of people that should formulate and implement educational policies to the benefit of the Nigerian child and in the interest of the country as a whole. It is worthwhile showing a record of the names of the past Ministers of education to enable us appreciate the need to have an educationist as the Minister of Education.

Most pof the past Ministers for Education were not educationists, they have no knowledge what so ever about education as they are employed in other ventures of life. This has posed a problem to the educational sector, because these ministers take advice from their advisers hook line and sinker, and implement such without having a fore knowledge or background knowledge of the policies they implement.

In Nigeria, the Federal Government makes the national policy on Education. Any bad policy made, will definitely affect the sector. Over the past 16 years, there has been confusion in education. We have what we call policy summersault and inconsistency in our policy implementation. We are confused, we adopt a system today and after five or seven years later we want to dump and pick another one instead of consolidating it. Is it that people who make these policies dont know what they are doing? I am of the opinion that the bodies responsible for policy making in educational matters in the nation should be assessed and evaluated to know if they should be kicked out or made to remain in office.

We  have had several un-popular educational policies made either by the National Council on Education [NCE], the Nigerian Educational Research and Development Council [NERDC], the Federal Ministry of Education, and Ministers of Education. It is high time we held these bodies accountable for the rot in the education sector, especially as it concerns primary and secondary education.

Decline In The Quality Of Teachers Training

Teachers hold the key to positive change in any society. As molders of character and shapers of attitudes, skills and competencies, they are the greatest agents of change. For this reason, any investment in teacher training and retraining is an investment well made. I would like to invite the attention of the president elect to address the decline in the quality of teacher preparation. In the past few years, Nigerias policy makers have made significant changes designed to produce Nigerias least experienced and least qualified teachers. In most European and Asian countries, teachers are prepared in both content and pedagogy before they are allowed to enter the classroom.

Unfortunately, however, Nigeria has her own unique ways of preparing teachers with the proliferation of educational institutions in the country in recent times, coupled with the introduction of part-time, weekend and sandwich programmes characterized by the lowering of entry qualification into schools, the performance of products from most of the institutions began to fall below expectation. What are our national priorities and how can Nigeria government- Federal, State and Local address the issue of teacher preparation, recruitment and retention? How much will it cost government to plan adequately for teacher education in Nigeria? No matter where we turn, be it in the economic, social educational or political sphere of activities, one is faced with the problem of trained man-power. No adequate training can take place without competent teachers to handle the training programme. So, teacher education is very important and must come at the top of every list of priorities concerned with education and training. This is because the services of the teacher are indispensable to every nation as the teacher is known to influence the lives of the nations youth who represent our future as a nation. Teacher education should be adequately planned as an integral part of National Development. This planning should take cognizance of man power assessment and development. This is because teacher education is basically related to every phase of our development.

If our education is to achieve the national objectives as stated in the National Policy on Education, a well-trained, qualified, efficient, satisfied, and dedicated crop of teachers is absolutely essential. In Nigeria today, a very disturbing and worrisome problem is the declining quality of teachers due to decline in the quality of teacher training. You will agree with me that hardly any learning is taking place in most of our primary schools today across the country because hardly any teaching is being done at this vital level of education. This is due largely to the decline in the quality of teachers engaged to teach in primary schools.

Many of our primary school teachers of today are not much more literate than the children they teach. So, they simply do not know what to teach, let alone know how to teach. This definitely calls for the need to take a look at our current teacher preparation policies and programmes. It is common knowledge that teachers of old are better and more dedicated to the calling than teachers of today. This has been traced to the type of training which they had. If this is so, then it can be concluded that teacher training programmes of the past produced better teachers than present-day teacher training programmes are producing. Therefore, to salvage the situation, it is necessary to look to the past and use it to enrich the present. In this connection, it is important to note the following for consideration.

The scrapping of the Conventional Teachers Training Colleges in Nigeria where teachers were well groomed in the principles and practice of education does not appear to be expedient. The T.C II programmes used to be the basic foundation of Teacher Education in Nigeria. The effect of scrapping them has been the lack of thoroughness and depth which characterize the teaching practice today. There is need to consider its re-introduction into the Senior Secondary School system, as was originally conceived of the 6-3-3-4 system, so that our children from the Junior Secondary School can be streamed into the Senior Secondary School [Teacher Education]. Thereafter, they can progress into the Colleges of Education as initially envisaged.

In addition, the T.C II curriculum should be enriched with functional Information Technology [IT], the fundamentals of Counselling, Creative and Thinking Skills, Principles of Health Child Care and Effective Parenting. The T.C II should be a valid equivalent of the Senior School Certificate [SSC], as it has been, and can be used to seek employment like is the practice now. Besides, holders of the T.C II would be quite useful as Care Givers [NOT TEACHERS] in the Early Child Care and Development Education [ECCDE] Centres and Nursery Schools or Kindergartens to be eventually attached to all primary schools across the country.

Teachers of Teachers

I would also wish that the president elect look into the roles of the institutions that prepare teachers for our schools. Most of the lecturer preparing teachers in the various Colleges of Education and the Faculty of Education in our universities are not trained teachers. You do not give what you do not have. A good teacher training programme is the key to the accomplishment of educational goals. The supply and training of teachers lies at the very heart of foundations for teacher training in Nigeria. Improved student learning will take place only when teachers have access to the necessary training, knowledge, skills, working conditions and material resources. For them to have the tools they need, major changes must be made.

The president elect must also know that it is wrong to make political appointee Chief Executive of Parastatals of the Ministry of Education without teaching qualifications. By so doing, it removes from the Ministry of Education the control of education. We must remember that it is the Ministry that has the administrative and professional training to control education at all levels. Usually, the political appointments are not based on the competence of the people. Those appointments are based on political patronage. And there is little any one can do about that.

Teachers Welfare

The Teacher is the key in the entire education programme, for the teacher may make or mar the best educational programme in the world. There should be better conditions of service, for teachers. While it is wise and desirous to make teachers everywhere to run the salary structure that obtains in the public service, teachers take home pay should be much enhanced through generous allowances paid to them. Unless the remuneration is attractive, students of good quality will hardly be attracted to the teaching profession and even those who are teachers would leave for more lucrative jobs or professions.

Teachers should be promoted as and at when due. Teachers should be recognized for their hard work and accomplishment, include teachers in the national award programme and not only politicians. As teachers, we know the importance of motivation. Teaching is the most rewarding, demanding and important job in the world. We must appreciate the good works of our teachers.

10.5 Million Nigerian Children Out of School

We are aware that about 10.5million children of school going age are not attending school – one of the highest in the world. The president elect must as a matter of fact get these children back to school. There are many programmes to be developed to address this issue. In this jet age, we must ensure that every Nigerian child is given free and compulsory education. This is a very serious problem that should be handled by a team of experts and not politicians. The president elect should take it as his pet project. He must not rest until he gets the children from the North, South, West, East and the Niger Delta Region back to school. Education makes a people easy to lead, but difficult to drive: easy to govern, but impossible to enslave.

The Role of Teachers Union Organization In Teacher Education

There is always a misconception that Teachers Union Organization exist solely for agitation for increase in salaries and better conditions of service. This is far from the truth. They exist also to promote both the academic and professional competence of their members by running in-service courses [which the NUT had done before]. They have their own professional committees which study curriculum development and identify areas of falling standards in education. Their representatives serve on different education boards, committees and councils. The Nigerian Union of Teachers have a great task to perform in ensuring that only qualified, creative, intelligent and dedicated teachers teach in Nigeria. The registration of all manner of teachers and the refusal of teachers to be subjected to test as recently claimed by some states is very unprofessional, but this is no place or time for discussion on that. But if you should ask me if teaching is a profession in Nigeria, my answer of course is a resounding NO.

We need to professionalize the practice of teaching. Teaching in Nigeria cannot be compared to such true professions as medicine and law. A profession:

Has a recognized knowledge base;

Demands rigorous training and certification of its members;

Foster a culture of consultation and collaboration in the work place;

Systematically indoctrinates and encultures new members;

Requires that continuous, regular learning be built into the work cycle;

Has high public accountability, and takes full responsibility for outcomes;

Internally maintains high standards of practice;

Has members who make autonomous decisions guided by an agreed upon canon ethics.

None of these characteristics can be claimed for teaching. I stand to be corrected, if teaching in Nigeria could be called a profession with some or all of the above characteristics. More prestigious professions avoid such an abrupt transition from student to full professional. Physicians, Lawyers, Engineers and Scientists all experience several transition years of apprenticeship, internship and junior membership on the job before they qualify for full rights and responsibilities in the profession.

This set of circumstances leads to the negative characteristics of teaching profession that perhaps most significantly differentiates it from others an unstaged career. More prestigious occupations have rigorous screening and requirements. Furthermore, they have a transitional or proving ground stage; only when an aspirant has been judged competent by senior members does the junior member step into the next stage of the career, which provides high visibility, greater challenge, a substantial increase in salary and responsibility for monitoring and judging the next wave of junior members. For example, a law school graduate must pass the bar exam and then serve as a clerk, as a legal aide, or as a junior member of a law firm. He or she works behind the scenes on writing and research that are credited to his or her superior. After proving competence over time, however, the lawyer then becomes a partner in a firm, a public prosecutor or defender, or an independent attorney. This movement brings visibility and stature in the profession and the right to have ones own apprentices to do the less challenging, less exciting work.

Teaching on the other hand, has been unstaged from entry to exit. Education majors take courses, spend time in schools, perform as student teachers, and then graduate from college of education and the university into their own classrooms as teachers. After that, no matter how many years they continue to teach, they do not move into another stage. Change is needed away from teaching as an unstaged career with minimal extrinsic rewards and toward teaching as a career in which teachers are properly inducted into the profession and provided new responsibilities, appropriate support, increased recognition and significantly increased salary at each career stage. The door for improving teachers teaching/learning process will never close; its simply a matter of whether or not we care to step in and make a difference.

Licensure And Certification

In advanced countries, they have standards for licensure and certification of teachers. A license is issued when an individual meets requirements imposed by the state, such as completing a preparation program or achieving a minimum score on a test of contest knowledge or professional practice. Some countries issue new graduates a temporary certificate that is valid for two or three years during which time the individual must perform satisfactorily in order to qualify for a standard certification.

Certification signifies that an individual qualifies to teach a particular subject or age group. National Certification is available through the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards [NBPTS]. NBPTS certification is granted to teachers who have voluntarily completed a rigorous evaluation of their content knowledge and teaching skill.

The time has come for Nigeria to consider establishing various boards to address this issue. Take for instance, the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards [NBPTS] and the Nigerian Board for Certification of Teacher Excellence [NBCTE], the president elect can play a major role in assisting the NUT raise the status of teachers in Nigeria through professionalization of teaching.

To the president elect, we must not loose sight of the great problems Nigerians face as a result of epileptic power supply. The restoration of power [energy] back to Nigeria, will automatically improve the economy. This is a task that all Nigerians must come together and offer prayers to God in our churches, mosques, homes, schools etc for you to succeed in this venture. The God who elected you will be the same God to give you the mission, vision provision and good health to succeed.

Dr. [Mrs.] Veronica E. Ogbuagu [JP]

Proprietress: Chinkelly Schools, Ekpan Effurun, Delta State

Tuesday, 14th April, 2015