We must fix education to fix Nigeria (II)

At the foremost university of Nigeria, the female hostels within the campus do not have functional toilet facilities just as other equally key amenities like water and electricity supply are very poor. The same can be seen from the University of Abuja which is just a stone throw from the seat of power.

Also, appointments into offices of vice chancellors of federal universities have become like appointments of village heads going by the evil practice whereby all the VC’s of federal institutions are sons and daughters of the soil thereby turning federal institutions into village halls.

The new and not so new ministers should do all within their power to change this evil trend and keep to the spirit behind establishments of Federal universities which should not be governed necessarily by persons from the so-called catchment areas in clear breach of competencies and merit.

The University of Lagos has been in the news for political battles between the governing board and the VC. Universities whether federal, state or private should be made to observe an administrative benchmark that would promote good governance, transparency and accountability. On no accounts should students of higher institutions or even primary and post-primary be subjected to dehumanizing conditions of defecating in the open and learning under grave conditions. Let’s turn our attention to what obtains in educational faculties in Europe to see what can be imbibed.

European Youth Insights is a platform provided by the European Youth Forum and the European Sting, to allow young people to air their views on issues that matter to them.

In a piece written by Tariq Jahan, he clearly told us the pragmatic values of education which must guide how the strategic education system must be governed in this fast moving information technology-driven knowledge generation.

He wrote that while being youths, we are at the center of absolute strength. We think big, hope for the best and envision a better tomorrow, thereof making unceasing efforts to turn our lifelong dreams into concrete actions. Youthfulness is in practice a phase of thorough and whole change—a perfect transition in terms of physique and mentality, society and environment, regionality and universality.

The phase of youth, the writer argued transports one from one world to another world—a world so different like scuba-diving and space exploration. Youths are such a layer of the society which has been the center of the focus of the remainder. The period of youth happens to be one of essence and core, ripened common sense and rationale accompanied by practicality and pragmatistic tendencies.

In my opinion, “People without education are like weapons without bullets.” Right after our birth, we have, in one way or the other, been imparted education. It would be no exaggeration to think of education vis a vis people like petals of the same flower or like two sides of the same coin, one entirely relying upon the other. Education is exceedingly instrumental for the realization of one’s innate self, strength, natural fitness, and factual being.

Education is so necessary and essential that its insufficiency or absence may lead one to choose improper path of life.

The writer wrote too that to begin with, education is a factor of change in one’s life: Education for the youth is the medium with the help of which they can quench their thirst for realizing their potentialities. The youth should be equipped with the best possible education and facilitated with favorable conditions to, through the attainment of their skills, be an asset to the community and that way contribute actively to the development of the community, as they are essential elements of the society. In this globalized and knowledge-based world, every young person should be given the opportunity to contribute to the society while fulfilling their potentials.

The writer posited further that since education, as conceived of, seeks to change the way one lives and thinks, the youth first must be provided great educational opportunities and suitable conditions, the hurdles laying on their way to educational ends ought to be removed, only then will the youth be a boon to the community. The self-development of the youth is directly tied with that of the society. To help others change their paths of lives, one must first start from himself. To reach apex, it should be started from the bottom. Beginning with self-awareness, the youth should go up, flourishing and prospering. When children are sent to schools, they are on the point of fact opened the wide windows of the dark rooms of this world.

There they can learn about their society, environment, social ethics and values and so on, the writer stated.

“So, it is incumbent upon every society to create constructive conditions for the youth so as to receive education. It is with the help of education that the youth can choose and seek their interests. They choose their ways and directions of lives. With this, they set goals for themselves and strive to achieve them. Education propels the youth in the right, proper and straight direction”.

The aforementioned should serve as a guide for the two ministers in the education ministry because the best way to fix this broken society is to fix education and deliver quality education to the youths who are the leaders of today.

*Emmanuel Onwubiko heads Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria (HURIWA) and blogs @www.emmanuelonwubiko.com; www.huriwa@blogspot.com; www.thenigerianinsidernews.com