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To Honourable Minister of Education
I thank God for the opportunity He gave you to serve
our nation at this time. I am particularly glad that a man of excellence and
integrity like you is considered worthy to be the Minister of Education at a
time like this.
Sir,
I consider this a great opportunity for me to express the burden that has been
in my heart about the state of public schools in Nigeria. The more I think that
the President considered appointing a seasoned academician of a humble
background like you to be the Minister of Education the more I believe the
unspoken purpose may be for you to restore lost glory to public schools. Sir,
surely you remember how public schools used to be in those days. Surely you
remember the academic and moral glory of public schools of those days. There
was no need for private schools as such except in places where there were no
government schools. When one is about to go to secondary school the headache
for parents used to be which school because all of them were good. There was
competition among the schools and principals which school will perform better
in WAEC. Then secondary school graduates could teach in secondary schools. I
remember my Physics teacher was a secondary school graduate who had grade one.
My Geography teacher in class one and two was also a secondary school graduate
who had grade two. How has the might fallen! Graduates of public schools in
this time cannot write or read well. Unfortunately those days are not so far
back. Gradually this glory became eroded. Students do not allow the teachers to
teach. Teachers are not interested in teaching; they used school hours to nurse
their babies and do their businesses. Nobody seems to care. Every body seems to
be helpless. How has the mighty fallen! Students set their minds and hope on
�expo� fromJS1. Their entire mind is on different kinds of malpractices to pass
internal exams and SSCE. Can you imagine a student who had an excellent SSCE
result but cannot spell �the�. This is a real life story. When they get into
the university by malpractice, they continue in malpractice and corruption,
offering money and their bodies to secure the degrees. Others resort to
occultism to get their degrees. After this they continue in the malpractice and
corruption, doing every thing to get jobs, positions, power and wealth by all
means but work and hard work. This is the bane of the present Nigerian society.
Who will bail the cat? Who will arise and confront this canker worm that has
devoured life out of our public schools. Do you know that there is now what is
called special centres,
where special fees are paid and students go there to take their JAMB? In these
special centres, the
invigilators write for the students and allow them do whatever they like. And
these centres are
reputed for high performance level in JAMB. So students prevail on their
parents to pay for these special centre. Those, whose parents still have some
integrity, do whatever they can on their own to get money for it.
Do you also know sir, that during SSCE or even internal school exams,
students are allowed to consult textbooks, the invigilators stay aloof having
been settled, while the students use their �expo� as they like. This is
irritating and nauseating. How has the mighty fallen. If this is happening in a
nation reputed to be the hope of Africa, then our continent is in trouble.
Education is the hope of any nation. When it fails the nation fails.
When it fails the future of any country becomes bleak. In other nations of the
world, education improves in standard and value as their national life grows in
other aspects. Here it seems this all important sector is neglected. Perhaps
Sir, you are to salvage this situation being an academician. Sir cast your mind
back a little and remember some public secondary schools you used to know. It
is sad to know that these public schools have become a caricature of what they
used to be.
The seeming abandonment of our public schools has made good education in
Nigeria very expensive. If you want good education for your children you go to
the private schools. But how many Nigerians can afford their exorbitant fees?
If not for the good public schools of those days many of the governors,
ministers, men and women of substance of today may never have gone to school.
If the state of our public schools were as it is today, Nigeria may have lost
men like you to trading or any such semi-skilled work. Let�s restore the glory
of these schools, so that the future of our nations will be secured. I tell you
there are the likes of President Obasanjo, late M.K.O. Abiola, Prof. Soyinka,
Prof. Osuji, Dora Akunyili, Ngozi Okon-Iweala out there in the homes of the
poor and middle class who can only be sent to public schools. With the present
state of our public schools, good education will elude them. Consider, these
gems will be lost to trading, tailoring and the like if public schools remain
in their present state.
Favour Chizomam Ntoimo
Lagos
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