Nothing defines humanitarian crisis than the revelation which was released by JAMB that 1.4m out of 1.8m students who sat for the examination scored below 200. It is nothing but a national emergency and it calls for immediate national action.
The revelation has just exposed us to the dangers inherent in government’s failure to invest in education and also bad parenting.
Critical stakeholders in the educational sector, and, indeed, the society, must understand that children and youth constitute a critical aspect of society, thus, they must not be exposed to flawed beliefs which now resonate to their brains.
Unfortunately, as against those days when corrupt and evil-minded people are viewed with contempt and disdain (irrespective of their attainments in life), the corrupt individuals are whom our children look up to for engagement and orientation. The Nigerian society of today now looks at the glitz and glamour of a reckless life without questioning the way and manner the individuals amass their wealth.
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In the Nigerian society of today, wherever you turn, you see parents and stakeholders downplay education. Parents and musicians now tell our younger ones that all the talks about schooling being the gate pass to a life of comfort are all lies which now reinforce the mantra “education is a scam”.
Your child is not a drycleaner yet brings bales of cloth home and you as parents do not ask questions. This JAMB failure, as much as it talks of government’s failure to invest in education, brings to fore the question of parental functions.
Nigerian politicians are not in any way helping matters. They keep mobilising young ones to engage in social vices such as election violence thereby damaging the society and creating more serious crises such as this national emergency we have got with the failure of many who wrote this year’s JAMB.
To change the sad narrative we have seen, our political class must henceforth celebrate academic excellence in showing that the government recognises education as a key driver of societal growth and progress. We have been fed with ugly scenes of graduates and even first-class products driving Keke Marwa and engaging in some petty works while society celebrates mediocrity over excellence.
This mass failure which has just been recorded in JAMB calls for not just sober reflection but immediate radical action from the Federal Ministry of Education. The government must acknowledge the fact that Nigeria’s current educational policy or even the posture of the government is neither satisfying the yearnings of its teeming youths nor delivering the needs of the labour market.
The government must pay close attention to education for students to be able to use their hands, heads and hearts. The posture of the government towards education must also change in order to encourage students to read. Libraries which are now dead must be revived and jobs be created for graduates to serve as motivation for younger ones. The welfare of teachers must also be prioritised.
Kazeem Olalekan Israel resides in Ibadan
