Declare Education Disaster Zone - Jegede
By Bayo Adeleke
Vice-Chancellor of National Open University of Nigeria (NOUN), Prof. Olugbemiro Jegede, has said the country's education sector should be declared a disaster zone considering the abandonment of the sector.
Speaking yesterday in Lagos on the topic: "Securing the Nigerian Future: Improving Standards of Education" at the 5th Mike Okonkwo Annual Lecture and 59 Birthday Anniversary, Jegede noted that the ultimate secret all over the world is that developed countries have been able to chart and effectively implement enviable programmes through better education.
Jegede, who observed that the bedrock of education is the acquisition of knowledge, argued that in an enviroment where such is not easily acquired, the net result is the use of ignorance as the standards to measure progress in education and other areas.
His words: "Although quality has become quite commonplace in higher education, it is still relatively new to other levels of the education system. And yet, one could argue that given the myraid of proceses and activities undertaken at other levels of education, there are no other levels of education which require quality management more than the lower level."
Explaining that the word "standards" as it is used in education may not actually reflect any standards but subjective consideration of those who speak about it, Jegede added that the best way to improve the quality of education is to raise fundamental questions about societal aims, the nature of participation in decision-making at all levels and the very purpose of the school as an institution.
"Measuring quality in education, contrary to general consideration, is much more intricate and demanding. To measure quality therefore, consideration must be given to two major global aspects of fitness for purpose," he noted.
This, according to him, is to measure an extent a product or service should meet the need of the customer and to which a product or an educational institution is achieving its own mission and goal.
Governor Bola Tinubu of Lagos State in his goodwill message through the Permanent Secretary in the state ministry of education, Mrs J.O. Osun, said whatever ills in the nation's today was as a result of what the stakeholders suppose to do but left undone.
Pointing to the government's efforts at improving the quality of education in the state, Tinubu enjoined all the stakeholders to emulate Bishop Michael Okonkwo by ensuring education is put again on the right track.
He congratulated Okonkwo on his birthday and for his foresight and wishes him more years of service to God and humanity.
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