‘Education has been receiving meagre attention since ‘independence’

Governor, Gboyega Oyetola of Osun State has lamented that the country’s education system has never received adequate attention from government and individuals since the nation got its independence.

The future of the country, he said might continue to be bleak, if nothing is done to address the rot in the sector, which he stated has been putting clog in the wheel of the nation’s development.He decried the eroding standard in teaching and learning, adding that it is the root cause of the high unemployment across the country.

He therefore stated that his administration is committed to revitalising the process of teaching and learning in the state.“The current state of Nigeria’s development is no doubt directly proportional to the level of its past and present educational state. The level of decay and unemployment is a pointer to the scant attention given to education since independence and the failure of education to respond to our needs. It is also a clarion call on us to give education its deserved attention and recalibrate the curriculum to respond to contemporary needs.

“As our contribution to revitalising our educational system, the state of Osun has changed the narrative by commencing the renovation of schools across the state, providing instructional materials for students and training and re-training teachers to deliver education that will make our children compete globally.

He continued: “We are also providing qualitative and functional education with adequate vocational and technical components for our children to make them job creators and not job seekers. This is a major shift from the former education system that put the nation in mass unemployment quagmire. Osun has 10 life academies, including one mining academy where children are taught vocational and technical skills to produce manpower for the state’s economy.

Earlier, the guest lecturer, Prof. Olutayo Adesina of the University of Ibadan, who spoke on “The state of secondary education in Nigeria: Yesterday, today and tomorrow,” called on the government, parents and alumni to rise to the aid of secondary education in the country.

He said the standard of education before independence was better than what is obtainable after, calling for better budgetary allocation for the sector.