Violence, deaths and destructions
Reforms, policies and politics
Initiatives and gains
Challenges
Strike actions
The ASUP strike is still ongoing while the ASUU strike that lasted for six (6) months was suspended just two days to Christmas. The demand of the union (ASUU) was simple - Federal Government of Nigeria should implement the 2009 agreement it entered into with the union. For a summary of the 2009 agreement click here. Several failed negotiations were held to resolve the crises, but the breakthrough came only when the Nigeria president personally intervene in the matter and the crisis was resolved within weeks with the signing of an MoU.
The ASUP strike was equally called to address the many issues affecting the public polytechnics including the welfare of the teachers, but so far, the crisis has dragged into 2014 without and in sight.
Also in 2013, the threat of solidarity strike by the Nigeria Union of Teachers (NUT) in support of the ASUU "struggle", though was never carried out, there were however, several strike actions by many state chapters of the union for different reasons. Among others, there were strikes in Sokoto, Benue, Bauchi, Taraba and Edo states which grounded academic activities for a lengthy period of time.
And as if not wanting the year to end without being mentioned in the "book of 2013 strikes", the Colleges of Education Academic Staff Union (COEASU) declared - just few days to end of 2013- an indefinite strike to commence in the new year(2014). Their demand was equally simple - the FG should implement the 2010 FG-COEASU agreement to address challenges in the public schools.
In a nut shell, ASUU was on strike, ASUP is still on strike, NUT was on strike and COEASU has declared an indefinite strike and the overall effect was that academic activities at all levels of education did not run as it should - more or less in stagnation.
Violence, deaths and destruction
Another tragic event was the road accident of June 13 that took the life of five students. The students were executive members of the National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS) who were on their way to Uyo to negotiate peace between the students and management of the University of Uyo following a riot that erupted in the school. Bad road was attributed to the cause of the accident.
The nation also lost an education activist and academician in another road accident- Prof. Iyayi. He was killed in a motor accident involving his car and the convoy of the Kogi State governor. The literary icon was on his way to attend an ASUU executive meeting at Kano State when the unfortunate accident occurred.
Though much of the last year violence and death are largely associated with the greater insecurity in the country, but no doubt, the education sector took a fair hit. Students, teachers and examiners were attacked or killed, classes, offices, dormitories and other infrastructures were equally destroyed. In one of numerous reactions, the examination body WAEC, did not conduct examinations in several centres fearing for the security of its personnel and unless security is improved, exams may not hold in many more centres.
Reforms, Policies and Politics
The Osun state government in its policy of improving its education system introduced a reclassification of its education system which entails the re-grouping and merging of schools in the state. Most controversial of the policy was the merging of schools. The policy was to see to the merging of some public schools in the state, some of which are faith-based schools. Such as merging of a Christian faith-base schools as Baptist Schools with non-faith based schools that might include hijab wearing Muslim pupils attending the school.
As soon as the policy was being implemented, some Christians in the state under the leadership of the state's chapter of Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) embark on a protest. The Christians protest was against coeducation with Muslims and wearing of hijab in their faith based (public) schools. As such some schools were temporarily closed down due to the agitation and protest by the Christians.
The policy caused dissatisfaction among Muslims in the state and a series of protests by students and Muslim groups were held to challenge the new policy. In its condemnation, one group NACOMYO states that " it is not only condemnable but also unacceptable by the Muslims in the state".
Prior to being sacked, Prof. Rukayyat had secure an executive approval for a controversial examination malpractices punishment for offenders. Under the new act, examination malpractice wil fetch offenders five years jail term or an option of 200,000 Naira fees. Considering the standard of education and infrastructures in the country, many commentators describe the new act as being insensitive to the challenges faced by teachers and students alike - which are the root cause of exam malpractices.
Initiatives and Gains
The federal government of Nigeria also spend billions of naira in establishing Almajiri schools nationwide, particularly in the Northern states. The schools which will blend the traditional form of Islamic education with Western education is hoped will cater for the millions of children who are out of school or are engaged in only Islamic education.
Challenges
And lastly, the problem of unemployment persist. Our education system has produced and continues to turn out "un-employable graduates". Many remain jobless either for reasons of the course they studied -for which there are limited space in the job market - or by the virtue of what employers termed "half baked graduates". Its thus not uncommon to see potential employer seeking years of experience from a graduate.
Post a Comment Facebook Disqus