It is unjust and an act of irrationality to blame government alone for the collapse of education in our dear country. People need to look at this with eagle-eyes. Everyone contributes his or her own quota to the worsening standard of education in the country.
I am not saying that government has no share of the blame, but things need to be taken into cognisance before condemning government on that.
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In those days, education had an integral image. The population was less, the students were curious to learn and teachers were full of keen interest to teach. Presently, the standard of education and the poor performance in our schools have become serious.
The students of nowadays are shiftless, indolent and unfocused when it comes to learning. They are no longer enthusiastic about their studies and hardly read their notebooks not to talk of their textbooks.
The distractions of modern technologies contribute immensely, although, negatively to students’ concentration. Most of them prefer watching television, listening to music, watching either sports or movies or attending parties to reading their books.
Teachers too are not to be exempted from contributing to the mess the education sector is in. Many are not qualified to teach. Some accept it because they could not get a better job.
Parents also contribute their quota to this serious problem. Negligence especially on the part of illiterate parents contributes a lot. Some send their children because they disturb them at home. At times, parents scold their wards when they open their bags to read or do some homework.
Such habits are also found among literate parents. They allow their wards to watch different movies on satellite TV up to midnight instead of reading books.
However, it is unfair for me to exclude government from having a hand in this calamity. Indeed, education is being poorly managed by all the three tiers of government in the country.
First and foremost, teachers’ welfare is not given due attention or priority. This makes the most industrious teachers, who have the zeal of teaching, become demoralised.
Many schools are without proper equipment or instructional materials. Students sit on bare floors in dilapidated classrooms with no windows, cracked blackboards and leaking roofs. Such students suffer a lot during either raining or harmattan season.
Education desperately needs absolute attention for its survival; all hands must be on deck to restore its dignity.
Parents should know that government alone cannot provide qualitative education to their children. Individuals and old boys’ associations should contribute their quota in educating the children so that the challenges facing education should be addressed.
Usman Usman writes from Kano
