From Bamigbola Gbolagunte, Akure
Renowned educationist and Registrar of the Joseph Sarwuan Tarka University, Makurdi, Dr John Ujo David, has expressed worry on what he described as commercialisation of education in the country.
The academic spoke at the 11th and 12th combined convocation ceremony of the Wesley University, Ondo in Ondo State held at the weekend.
Dr David who berated the current situation in the education sector in the country, observed that the value of education is gradually being debased due to the alleged commercialisation of education today.
Delivering the convocation lecture entitled “Early church fathers as panacea for sustainable development in Nigeria”, Dr David noted that “gradually and steadily, the erstwhile sound missionary schools are giving way to commercialised and unaffordable schools or miracle centres.”
While condemning the high tuition of many of the faith based tertiary institutions in the country, Dr David said ” it is unbelievable that a church member’s child cannot attend a training centre set up with the proceeds of offerings and tithes which the members also made contributions to, owing to the man’s indigence.
“To this, we ask where lies the service -oriented content in church vision,” he asked rhetorically.
He lamented that the university has today become a breeding ground for cultism, banditry, kidnapping and violent lifestyles, rather than being a centre of academic excellence that it was originally designed to be.
He said the ugly situation in the university system has hitherto made the landscape incipient of chaos, indecency, violence, instability and decay, regretting that reading culture which is supposed to be the centre piece of the university has been eroded, thereby resulting in serious poor academic performances.
Also, he identified technology as one of the reasons behind bad behavior of many students in tertiary institutions, saying that the use of android phones and iPhones contributed to menace in the university.
However, he said exemption is made of some universities, especially private ones like Wesley University, Ondo and few others that are free from social malaises.
He therefore suggested the need for proper discipline in the university system to restore the lost glory of the universities and bring back the glory or the country’s education sector.