International Education Day: Civil Groups seek changes in Anambra education system

By Chukwudi Ndubeze

Civil Rights Concern and Partners stakeholders have called for an improved learning standard in Anambra state as part of events marking the 2020 international day for education.

The group which bases on data updates on persons with disabilities and improved delivery services in Awka, Monday called on the state government to retool the education in the state for improved results and to enable students to gain more access to modern learning facilities obtainable in other countries.

The group also urged the government to seek adequate measures to alleviate sufferings and deprivations of children in the rural areas of the state who as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic and other challenges have been forced to suspend their education because of poor access to technology-driven learning.

A communique issued at the joint meeting urged the state government to review its post-COVID-19 policy on education. They called on the state government to come up with a clear policy for equipping public schools to meet up with post-COVID-19 tasks on education which according to them is becoming technologically driven.

They also called for improved supervision and monitoring of teachers in rural communities against truancy and ensure better delivery of quality teaching to students in rural communities.

The group agreed that the provision of Local Area Network, LAN, in rural areas is necessary to enhance online learning for children in hinterlands who are deprived by poverty, poor networks, and electricity.

They also asked the state government to not only employ more teachers to reduce workloads but as well involve them in thorough training on ICT compliance and usage of modern devices to propagate instructions to students.

Speaking on the topic, ‘Retooling Education’ President of Anambra State Association of Town Unions, ASATU, Prof Charles Nwadigwe said that education is a right and not a privilege for every child stressing that education is one of the key institutions that drive humanity.

He said retooling education entails equipping the education sector with the right facilities and resources that will enable children to gain the sound knowledge they deserve. He said there is a shortage of classrooms across schools to accommodate students in schools amidst the calls for COVID-19 protocols in the state.

Prof Nwadigwe who is also an education consultant decried the spate of insecurities and communal conflict that have deprived school children in rural areas of opportunities to learn. He queried why rural school children should be judged by the same standard as those in urban areas even when equal provisions are not being met.

He stressed that it is only mission schools in the state that have been making the state proud in competitions and not the public schools because the public is grossly under-equipped and poorly staffed.

He said that Nigeria must leverage modern education technologies adding that there is a need to teach the child how to use modern learning devices to enable the child to grasp the trends of learning in the present world.

Nwadigwe also called for the introduction of an education tax where Nigerians will pay indirectly in support of funds for education projects pointing out that education projects can be funded from taxes on luxury goods and establishments.

Another activist, Henry Oparah while blaming the state government for the dilapidation in the standard of education in the state, said that efficiency in the classroom has been lost by poor staffing of primary and secondary schools across the state.

Similarly, President of the Center for Self Empowerment and Development, Mrs. Onyeka C. Obi, said that the Anambra state government must address the issue of appointment of principals as she claimed that most principals are not appointed on merit. She warned that school children must not be left in the hands of quacks and tired brains but qualified and technology compliant teachers.

Also, another stakeholder from Adonai Health and Development Foundation, AHADEF, Jennifer Chiamaka Okafor, decried that the remuneration of teachers in rural areas is poor compared to their daily living costs. She noted that the people living in the hinterlands do not have a power supply and network to key into the online learning as practiced in urban centers of learning.

Addressing participants at the forum, the Director, Civil Rights Concern, (CRC) Okey Onyeka noted that the program of Evidence and Collaboration for inclusive development (ECID) was sponsored by Christian Aid and UKaid.

He said the ECID project is geared towards data collection, reaching out to the downtrodden, dealing with the government targeted at reducing poverty in the selected communities.

He maintained that education is one of the key sector programs of civil rights reiterating that the group aims to improve classroom spaces, environment for conducive learning as well as make quality learning accessible to every Nigerian child.

“ECID project is also targeted at how to engage Government using data collected, the effectiveness of CSO’s in using data as evidence to engage and change situations in education, Agriculture, infrastructure, health, gender equality.

“The project he said is targeted to make Government accountable, adding that the target was to work with communities, civil society groups, Government institutions, and private sectors to develop sustainable data platform that reflects the perspectives and priorities of marginalized groups.”