…explores private sector partnership as a panacea
By Olanrewaju Adesanya
In an attempt to evolve a more qualitative, purpose driven and functional education system in Nigeria, the Federal Government, Lagos State Governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, and other prominent education experts have indicated the need to give much concentration to grooming well rounded students, who can favourably assert their competences in the global intellectual space, churning out contents that target’s solving problems for the country.
This forms the thrust of discourse on Tuesday at the opening session of the 2022 Lagos State Education Summit, with the theme; Creating a sustainable Fit-For-Purpose Education Model, in the state through private sector collaboration and partnership.
The need for adjustment of the existing frameworks to introduce students into the work environment prior the completion of their academic pursuit, thereby offering them a new threshold of capacity building was also advanced by participants at the summit with the sole intent of inculcating in them required knowledge and ideas that would make them solution providers to societal challenges.
The governor, the central government representatives, and experts in the education sector however, agreed that Lagos has done more to prepare students for the task after school but much more could still be done between the public and private sectors to ensure their employability after school and that the education system of the state is top-notch .
The Senior Special Assistant to the President on education intervention, Fela Bank-Olemoh, stressed that there was a need to remodel the education system towards being relevant to the societal needs in decades to come in the country.
Bank-Olemoh stated that there was a need for all stakeholders across the country, just like Lagos, to sit and have a critical look at re-evaluating the system and make relevant adjustments that would bring the desired results.
He noted that the decision that may emanate from the summit may not be favourable to all but it must be implemented if the country aimed to have an education system that could rival any country globally.
“We all understand the importance of education to the country’s development. It is important for us to expand access to education across the country. And we are excited that the Lagos State Government is taking the right step. And I hope that we will be able to take the decision needed on the education system after the summit.
“We all know that we have to rework our education system including university. The system is not working effectively as we all wanted. The problem is that we are not bold enough as a nation to take the decision that will bring the desired result. We all need to sit down and tell ourselves that the system is absolutely not working”.
The president’s aide noted that part of the adjustment needed was to introduce programmes that would reduce the number of out-of-school children in the country, adding we all know that we have to get more people into the classrooms.
Sanwo-Olu stated that Lagos, under his administration, would commit more resources to ensure all out-of-school children in the state returned back to school and contribute their quota to the development of the country.
The governor, who commended the teachers and others on the achievements recorded in the education sector including the West African Senior Secondary Certificate Examination (WASSCE), emphasised that there was need to do more to boost the standard and bring everyone into the classrooms.
He added that there was a need to collaborate with stakeholders in the education sector to register more schools that would be monitored by the government in order to check how they are impacting on the students.
According to him, I believe that at the end of this summit, we can have a discussion on the system and the private school owners on what could be done to ensure that we can get a lot more from the system.
He stressed that his government has invested immensely in the education sector in the last three years, stressing his administration’s commitment to continue to prioritize the development of the sector through an increase in the budget.
“This Government has completed over 1,000 education projects in the last 3yrs, because improved education is one of the legacies we wish to leave behind. And we are also happy because the Summit came at the right time when the state has recorded improvement in the West African Examination Council, WAEC, results from 40% to 80%.
“Education is not just a pillar in one of our THEMES agenda, it’s one of the dividends of democracy and one of the cardinal objectives of our administration. We see it as one of the tools that can end poverty in our system. We are not paying lip service to education, we are taking it seriously. Education has continued to receive an increased budget in our administration. Governor said.
The governor who joined the event virtually added that his administration has improved the learning environment and promised to do more in the coming years.
According to him “We believe we can do more. At the end of the Summit, we can have a real conversation with the private schools and work with them to ensure we get more out of Out-Of-School children.”
The lead speaker at the event and vice-Chancellor of Pan Atlantic University, Prof Enaze Okenedo, lamented that the quality education was no longer about knowledge acquisition as it was many years ago.
Okenedo noted that the education system has evolved globally more than where Nigeria’s system currently stands and there was a need to quickly made an adjustment for the billions invested annually in it to achieve the desired result.
According to her, as we settled into the fourth industrial revolution, the country must begin to do away with the knowledge based education system and concentrate more on how the students could apply all knowledge acquired into daily societal needs.
“The values to bring into its application include good character, ability to think creatively, solve societal problems, collaborate, engage in teamwork and technology savvy among others that are more important.
Earlier, the state Commissioner for Education, Folasade Adefisayo, during her welcome address, said that the essence of the summit was not to identify problems facing the country’s education sector nor dwell on discussing them as they were not new but to discuss practicable solutions that could bring about the desired change.
She noted that Lagos State was not concerned only about learning outcomes where students strive just to pass examinations again, but how to prepare them well with the right knowledge and skills that will enable them to overcome odds and make a great impact even before graduation. sectors to achieve a second-to-none system for the state.
