From TONY JOHN, Port Harcourt
Nigeria Union of Teachers (NUT) has appealed to the Federal and State governments not to mortgage the future of Nigerian children and youths, by failing to place priority on the development of the education sector.
The body of teachers, however, urged governments at all levels to make better investment in education in order to make public schools lucrative, regretting that private schools may cause lose of some educational values.
NUT, which wants 20 percent budgetary allocation for the education sector, has called on the Federal Government to end the privatisation and commercialisation of education system, which is not healthy to the growth of the sector.
This was the focus of a day workshop on Privatisation and Commercialisation of Education held in Port Harcourt, organised by NUT, the Education International (EI), Friedrich and STIFTUNG, for teachers from nine states of South-South and South-East.
Addressing the participants, the National President of NUT, Audu Amba, stated that there was need for the government to end the era of private schools, adding that education in the country has been turned into commodity only for profit making.
He said: “As we embark on the campaign, we are not unaware of the fact that the country’s National Policy on Education provides for participation of private education providers to complement the efforts of government.
“But, what has become worrisome and unacceptable is the ugly trend where education is turned into a commodity for sale with the motive of making profit, coupled with the glaring failure of public authorities to regulate and monitor the activities of non-state actors in order to protect the right to education of our children through the provision of adequate funding and investment in quality public education.
“I wish to specially acknowledge at this juncture the importance of education as a veritable instrument for human capital development and pivot of national development.
“Our country, Nigeria, cannot afford to mortgage the future of our children and youths by failing to accord the education sector its pride of place in the nation’s development agenda. We must brace up as a country to ensure the provision of free and qualitative public education.
Amba, on safeguarding the right to education demanded an improved budgetary allocation for education, adding that improvement on the environment and learning facilities in the public schools would bring an end to existence of private schools.
Meanwhile, Dr Dennis Sinyolo, the African Director of Education International, African Regional Office, Ghana, said public schools are sustainable because they cater for the needs of everybody irrespective of gender, social class of ethnicity.
Sinyolo said in many countries public schools are free, adding that private school are there for profit making from parents and Communities.
He said: “Private school are there for profit making, that is why we challenges the commercialisation and Privatisation of education, because we want equal opportunity for everyone, including the most marginalised.”
“Why we have private schools is that the government Nigeria is not investing sufficiently in education. For example, internationally, through the United Nations, nations agreed to invest at least 20 percent of their national budget on education. But, the government of Nigeria is investing less than 10 percent.”
He regretted that Nigeria is the list country in Africa in terms of investment in education, adding that private schools were flourishing because the government lacked the will to make meaningful investment in the education sector.