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| Gov. Mai Mala Buni addressing the summit. |
Yobe State Governor, Mai Mala Buni has convened the first ever education summit in the state to address the educational backwardness of the state.
Gov. Buni while declaring the summit
open expressed his dissatisfaction that "Our education system is still not where
it is supposed to be. We still have so much work to do".
Gov. Mai Mala Buni at his inaugural speech declared a
state of emergency on the educational sector.
In his address at the summit, the
governor noted his pain with the poor student passage in National Examinations
like WAEC and NECO.
His words; "First, we all know
that the performance of a majority of Yobe students in various national
examinations, including SSCE and NECO, is not very impressive.
"Second , because of the
often-dismal performance of students at the primary and secondary school
levels, Yobe has remained unable to fill our quotas in various institutions of
learning and in significant areas of specialization, such as medicine, computer
science, and engineering.
"Third , as a result of the
above, we are still a long way from getting the adequate number of indigenous
professionals that our state needs to provide much-needed social services,” the
governor said.
Gov. Buni explained that the above
challenges compelled him to declare a state of emergency on education in the
state on his day of inauguration as governor.
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Going forward, Gov. Buni said the
old order must be changed with a creative approach to solving the problems,
stressing that, “"It is a momentous imperative that can no longer wait. It
must begin right now".
He added: "It means that
the familiar perception of the problems that confront us must be creatively
challenged. Most importantly, it is a commitment to do all that is necessary to
reverse the present order of things and to suspend the bureaucratic impediments
and other bottlenecks that stand in the way of achieving our urgent goal – the
goal of providing the best possible education for our children.
"This is why this Summit
is very important. I am confident that all the stakeholders gathered here today
will help in charting the way forward for us. So, as we begin to brainstorm,
let me share with you a few ideas that I believe are relevant going forward, he
said.
Gov. Buni also warned corrupt people
who may want to take advantage of the emergency to enrich themselves only throwing money into the system wont solve
the problems without identifying other germane issues such as malnutrition,
teachers’ welfare, infrastructure and others.
"If we do not have good ideas,
if we do not identify specific medium-to-long term trends that affect overall
outcomes, our schools would remain in the same place even if we budget
everything we have in the State into them".
"Issues such as good nutrition
for children are important, because a malnourished child is simply ill-equipped
to internalize learning patterns. As Professor Kole Shettima said, “If children
are malnourished, their brains will not develop no matter the number of
classrooms we build, teachers we recruit, or stationary we purchase.
“Secondly, we must avoid the slander
that people go into teaching because they have nothing better to do with their
lives. Teaching is important. I dare say that we could not have been here today
without the support of good teachers", he observed.
"So, in the coming weeks and
months, we intend to roll out different incentives to equip our teachers to do
better. This will entail, but will not be limited to, providing more
opportunities for those who need re-training to re-train, organizing workshops
and seminars on global best practices in teaching, and making the school
environment more conducive for teaching and learning.
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| Gov. Buni with the Emir of Fika during the summit |
"While we do not plan to
retrench any teacher, we will insist that they must get their acts right. We
will insist that they must re-train and meet all relevant qualifying criteria
for them to stand in front of the classroom as teachers,” he said.
To achieve students errollment the
governor said; “we will partner with our traditional rulers and community
leaders to make sure that school enrolment improves.
“This is because across Yobe today,
overall school enrolment for children between the ages of six and 10 is
significantly lower than should be when you take population growth and
other demographic factors into consideration.
“This has to change.We therefore
urge our traditional rulers and community leaders to play the role they had
played effectively in the past. That is, they should become more active by organizing
community meetings and other outreach services to encourage parents to send and
keep their children in school", Gov. Buni charged.
The Governor urged Yobe parents show
interest in their children’s education by being actively involved in their
educational issues both in school and at home.
Gov. Buni at the end of his speech
announced the former Vice Chancellor of University of Maiduguri, Prof. Mala
Daura to head a Technical Committee on Basic and Secondary Education in Yobe
State.
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