At Baptist school’s fundraising, Olaopa seeks support for education

Chairman of the Federal Civil Service Commission (FCSC), Prof. Tunji Olaopa, has urged support for education, noting that the government alone could not meet the sector’s challenges of the sector.

Making the appeal yesterday in Abuja as Chairman of the 80th Fundraising Dinner for Olivet Baptist High School, Oyo, The FCSC boss observed that the school needed support for development, acknowledging that the entire educational sector in the country was faced with the same fate.

He said: “To have been established in 1945 and to still retain some measure of its old glory, given what the lamentable fate of public schools in Nigeria, is no mean feat. In another breath, the generations of we old students, that are here today, are alive to witness this momentous celebration of a school that has so greatly impacted our formative years and all we have become in life calls for reflection. A reflection on the clear fact that if Olivet had impacted us so profoundly, is it not evident that the school now needs us to give back to it, in a measure that will impact at this trying time? And Olivet is not alone in this challenged state, as restoring the glory of the old famous schools nationwide including the more recent, Unity Schools of FG Colleges and states’ model schools is now the concern of all stakeholders and policymakers.”

According to Olaopa, public schools and indeed public education institutions are not just challenged, “they are failing on every education achievement parameter: content/curriculum and pedagogy; infrastructure/technology for learning and school administration; funding and sustainability; quality assurance; teacher professionalism and teacher education; certification, relevance and employability. Indeed, a huge chunk of teachers in these schools are provided and sustained by PTAs, and the government is making an effort to formalise the recruitment of those who are qualified by government standards within the limit of availability.”

“It is unhelpful to therefore keep heaping blame on governments. What the times and tides require is for all hands to be on deck, even as the need for policy innovation and creativity on the side of government cannot be overemphasised,” Olaopa added.