That education in Western Nigeria may prosper again

It is still a sobering reality that the quality of education in South West Nigeria has experienced an abysmal downturn in recent years. The present story should be sufficiently shocking and worrisome, particularly to those familiar with the golden era of the region when it was an all-round tale of inspiring exploits in virtually all […]

It is still a sobering reality that the quality of education in South West Nigeria has experienced an abysmal downturn in recent years. The present story should be sufficiently shocking and worrisome, particularly to those familiar with the golden era of the region when it was an all-round tale of inspiring exploits in virtually all sectors of human endeavours. Unfortunately, this region that once prided itself as the bastion of educational excellence and scholarship has  retrogressed and now slides tragically behind other regions of the country that once looked up to her for leadership. 
Take a look at the 2015 May/June West African Senior Secondary School Certificate Examination statistics: Only Lagos State, with 6th position, was found on the top 10 out of the 36 states, including Abuja. Ekiti, Ondo, Ogun, Osun and Oyo all ranked 11th, 13th, 19th, 29th and 26th respectively. As if this is not enough, the wave of scandals and crisis now dotting the education landscape in some of the western states should leave every true Yoruba son and daughter saddened, if not irked. The narrative is indeed disturbing, and thus, justifiably, requires all critical stakeholders in the country to devote concerted attention to finding a way out, urgently.
It was in apparent response to this that the Development Agenda for Western Nigeria Commission, the region’s impressive integrative force, took up the gauntlet last week, convening a technical roundtable of leading stakeholders in education. The theme could not have been more apt: ‘Developing a Collaborative Framework for Education Advancement in Western Nigeria’.
The effort was both timely and audacious.  And much of this purposefulness reflected in the overall make-up of the event and the array of stakeholders harnessed to candidly dissect the matter at hand, while also forging a realistic and strategic direction for education in the region.
Dipo Famakinwa, director general, DAWN Commission, brilliantly captured the place of qualitative education in the region this way: “The people of Western Nigeria are the region’s most important asset. It is from within the people that capable men and women who would effectively lead the region, and work hard for its prosperity and social harmony will emerge. There is the necessity to create a bespoke but globally-aligned Southwest education to transmit our worldview which in turn would help in sustaining survival and promoting our civilisation. The long-term survival and sustainability of the region is therefore hinged upon the production of educated, highly skilled, motivated and engaged people”.
The crux of the enriching deliberations centred on injecting fresh ideas into the education sector for an urgent turnaround. Active partnership between the various stakeholders, including teachers, parents, government and allied stakeholders in the region was identified as being critical to delivering qualitative education in the region.
The need to give teachers the deserved pride of place in the region also came to the fore. It was echoed severally that, to professionalise teaching in the region and commit teachers to deliver on mandate, stakeholders must redirect efforts and ensure teaching is made intensely attractive through improved remuneration. This, as the stakeholders noted, is required to retain the region’s best brains in education. This was in addition to the call made to improve the learning environment in schools, while also reviewing the subsisting school curriculum.
Again, it was canvassed that political leaders in the region must exert the right political will on forging a roadmap that is all inclusive and visionary. To this end, it was emphasised that for the region to deliver on the promise of bequeathing a greater future for the coming generation, qualitative education deserves the right kind of attention, priority and commitment.
Femi Babatunde wrote from Osogbo