CAN holds education summit …Asks govt to tackle examination malpractices through special court
CAN has called on government to return mission/church schools and colleges to their rightful owners without further delay. A communiqué jointly signed by Msgr. Hypolite Adigwe, Director, Directorate of Education, Youth and Women Development; Rev. Felix Ekiye, Secretary, Directorate of Education Youth and Women Development; and Mrs Ekene Ofodile, Departmental Secretary, Directorate of Education, Youth […]
CAN has called on government to return mission/church schools and colleges to their rightful owners without further delay.
A communiqué jointly signed by Msgr. Hypolite Adigwe, Director, Directorate of Education, Youth and Women Development; Rev. Felix Ekiye, Secretary, Directorate of Education Youth and Women Development; and Mrs Ekene Ofodile, Departmental Secretary, Directorate of Education, Youth and Women Development after an education summit last Thursday in Abuja noted that some of the returned schools and colleges are in extreme desperate state of infrastructural decay and need adequate financial grants and other resources to be resuscitated.
Even though the missionaries want to get back their schools, they asked government to ensure that adequate funds are released for pay of “teachers in these mission/voluntary agency/church schools and provision of well equipped laboratories, infrastructural facilities and instructional materials for good academic performance and a holistic formation of the students.”
The theme of the summit was “Rediscovering the Goldmine of Christian Education in Nigeria”.
Three hundred and four participants from all the five blocks of CAN – the Catholic Secretariat of Nigeria (CSN), the Christian Council of Nigeria (CCN), the Christian Pentecostal Fellowship of Nigeria (CPFN)/Pentecostal Fellowship of Nigeria (PFN), the Organisation of African Instituted Churches (OAIC), and the TEKAN and ECWA Fellowship were present for the deliberations.
They represented church leaders, school proprietors, educational administrators, supervisors, and heads of educational institutions, lecturers, teachers and students from all levels of the Christian educational institutions in the country.
The summit resolved, “To ensure quality education of Nigerian children, it is imperative to engage quality teachers and these quality teachers must be paid adequate remuneration which should be at par or even better than their counterparts in government schools.”
It however stressed, “The discipline of teachers should be left for the missions since they are close to these teachers. However, inspectors/supervisors from the ministry of education and state school management board should supervise them to ensure proper curriculum delivery and maintenance of high standard[s].”
Parents who are tagged the first educators of their children were advised to engender maximum cooperation with the church school administrators so as to ensure that there is order and harmony between the life of the student at home and in school.
The summit particularly bemoaned the evils of examination malpractice in the educational system and recommended that government should enact a law stipulating that “both West African Senior School Certificate and National Examination Council Certificate examinations are taken by the students in their schools of origin. In case of parental transfer, special permission should be granted in writing by the ministry of education for the candidate to register for the examination in the school of choice.”
CAN wants government to consider creating special courts for quick dispensation of cases of examination malpractices instead of regular courts that delay cases.
The summit advocated for the founding of a quarterly journal on Christian education; a Journal which should emphasize Christian ethics, morals, characteristics and teaching principles, a journal that will educate and equip the educators.
It wants CAN education summit to be held annually with regular workshops/seminars conducted at zonal and state levels for teachers at all levels of the education system to conscientize them.
Participants who spoke at the end of the workshop expressed satisfaction with their deliberations and resolutions saying they will return to their places and make impacts.
Sister Martha Kalu who came from the Handmaid Holy Child Juniorate Amomara, Mbaise, Imo State expressed, “I learnt a lot of things and I’m going home with challenges with regards to improvement of standards in my school, handling school children, checking exam malpractice, effective use of teaching materials and understanding the students own way of behaviour and how to handle them.”
According to her, the missionary schools are not immune to exam malpractice because the children come in with influences from the open society. Akaninyene Nyoritie came from the University of Nigeria Nsukka. He is National Chairman-elect, Christian Association of Nigerian Students. According to him, teaching is a calling so stakeholders should have compassion for the future leaders.
He said morals should reflect in all that is done. “Some of the proprietors are charging exorbitant fees. It is different from every other business because you are dealing with future leaders,” he state maintaining that “Those that are not called should stay out of it because they are doing more harm than good.”
Msgr. Hypolite Adigwe who summed up the rationale behind the gathering observed that there is a disconnect between the religious practice of the people and their lives.
He stated, “Those who are very religious, who pray, who worship on Sunday, Monday, Tuesday till Saturday, they behave differently. That religion is not sufficiently reflected in their social lives, in their business lives, in their political lives—sometimes in their family lives. And we think we should put our heads together, to ask questions on how we can rediscover the goldmine that has been in the Christian education.”
He said trouble started when the military government took over management of missionary schools.