In
concluding the four-week nationwide advocacy campaign for transformation in
Nigeria’s education sector, the Concerned
Parents & Educators (CPE) has called for a stakeholder’s summit with a
view to providing the platform for discussions on the salient issues raised
during the campaign and charting the way forward.
Tagged
“Save Education In Nigeria Dialogue”,
the dialogue is scheduled to hold on Wednesday 26th February 2020 at
Vintage Point Events Center, Acme Road, Ikeja. It is expected to be a gathering
of nation builders where participants will go beyond typical education seminar
that discusses the problems but focus more on seeking solutions and creating
them.
According
to the Founder, Concerned Parents & Educators, Mrs. Yinka Ogunde, “This is
an epoch-making event hence CPE is quite diverse in its invitation. We have
invited School owners, Non-governmental organizations, Trade Organizations,
Teachers, Child-Minders, Students Bodies, Parents, Petty traders, Media,
Entrepreneurs and Concerned Nigerians. So, we are expecting a very robust and practical
kind of discussion.”
Ogunde
highlighted the various challenges facing the Education sector nationwide,
which includes:
- Poor
quality of teachers - Dilapidated
and totally outdated structures - Low
budgetary allocation for education and misuse of available funds - Effect
of drug abuse, examination malpractice, sexual abuse in our schools. - Poor
teaching facilities in our schools? - Lack
of standard curriculum that is relevant for today’s world and that will make
the Nigerian child excel in the workplace? - Increased
number of out-of-school children. - Lack
of standards and policies that need to be in place.
She,
however, noted that these problems cannot and will not disappear on their own
except we all begin to take ownership and seek ways of transforming the Sector.
This, she said is the essence of the “Save
Education In Nigeria” Dialogue.
Speaking
further, Ogunde assured that the dialogue will address some of the pertinent
questions on the minds of concerned Nigerians. This includes such questions as:
- How
do we create a curriculum that serves the need of the society? - How
do we change the attitude of young Nigerians towards organized knowledge as
against immediate pecuniary gains? - How
do we fund Education for the huge population we already have in a sustainable
way? - How
will our children love to learn (Interactive session with students in primary/secondary/tertiary
institution)? - How
do we reposition the teaching profession and the mindset of teachers? - How
do we encourage parents to work hand in hand with their schools to nurture and
educate the Nigerian child?
“At
the end of the dialogue, a communiqué would be issued and presented through
various CPE state chapters to Commissioners of Education across the federation”,
said Ogunde.
Concerned
Parents & Educators Network (CPE) started four
years ago as an online platform with the main objective of bringing together keys
stakeholders in the education sector to deliberate on ways they can improve standards
in schools, empower teachers with necessary information and skills, support
parents, protect the children and generally ensure that we have better outcomes
in schools and in the lives of the students.
Today, CPE has grown in leaps and bounds, with over 127,000 members across Nigeria talking about issues that are critical to the development of the education sector and proffering solutions to the multiple challenges inherent there. Interestingly, this initiative has also led to discussions about teachers’ development and birthed another online platform exclusively for teachers’ training and capacity building. Much more, it has also birthed a non-governmental organization that supports indigent children through educational scholarships and concerned Nigerians on ways to proffer solutions to the problems in the education sector.
– Aramide Oikelome