Gbenga Daniel advocates reforms for primary education under local government control
FORMER governor of Ogun State and now a serving senator, Otunba Gbenga Daniel, has expressed worry over the state of primary education in the country, advocating its control under the local government administration.
He said it is only the local government with full financial autonomy that can best control primary education in the country.
FORMER governor of Ogun State and now a serving senator, Otunba Gbenga Daniel, has expressed worry over the state of primary education in the country, advocating its control under the local government administration.
He said it is only the local government with full financial autonomy that can best control primary education in the country.
He was the chairman of the retreat with the theme: ‘Basic Education Implementation in Nigeria: Issues, Challenges and Way Forward.’
In his remarks at the opening session, the former governor pointed out that basic education will be better run in Nigeria if local governments are fully in charge.
According to him, “we should allow the local government to run basic education, especially at primary school level, while the state should totally hands off other roles and rather concentrate on secondary education”.
Daniel identified some issues and challenges that need to be addressed to move the subsector forward .
He listed lack of access; poor infrastructures, dearth of competent teachers and instructional materials, obsolete curriculum, inadequate funding, high teacher/ students’ ratio, limited access to technology, societal and cultural barriers as major barriers, emphasising that local government will better address them.
The executive secretary of UBEC, Dr Hamid Bobboyi, stressed the importance of taking a holistic look at the challenges confronting basic education in the country and working out a practicable and enduring solution.
He particularly made reference to the UBEC Act, saying that the 20-year-old legislation is long overdue for review to reflect the current best global practice in basic education that will guarantee free and quality education for all Nigeria’s children.
He noted that this is the right time to do the review is no other time than now when the country is struggling to bail itself out of economic quagmire.
In his remarks, the chairman of the Senate committee on Basic and Secondary Education, Mr Lawal Usman, expressed the readiness by the committee to chart a new course for basic education in the country.
He also placed emphasis on the 2004 UBEC Act, promising that the retreat will look into major issues in the document and relate them to the emerging trends in the subsector and then come up with recommendations that are practicable as a way forward.
SOURCE: NIGERIAN TRIBUNE
