London-based educationist, Dr Adetunji Adeosun has hailed President Bola Ahmed Tinubu for re-introducing students’ loan in the country.
He said this is the right button to press if the Nigerian education sector must be revamped and resuscitated. It is the best way to encourage and inspire ambitious Nigerian youths.
It will also minimize ‘japa syndrome’. While making more clarification, he submitted: “Education is not cheap, in most developed countries, students’ loans help to support and improve the quality of education. There should be no fear about students absconding with the loan because the world is a global village.
“If a student defaults in Nigeria and absconds to Canada, technology can be used to retrieve back the money because the financial institutions are linked together.
Students’ loan is also available in the UK, Canada, USA and the bank of education is crucial for educational development in Nigeria”.
The forward-looking educationist also identified how generation of functional data can help revamp falling education standards in Nigeria.
He equally cautioned governments at all levels not to pay lip service to the uplift of education sector in the country.
He said, “The state of education in Nigeria has not been encouraging, there is a program for international students’ assessment that is controlled by the organization for economic development globally. It is an assessment based on Mathematics, English and one-science subject; the leading country in the world is China followed by Singapore, Estonia among others.
“In this list, Nigeria is completely missing because they do not have the data to evaluate us. The quality of our education cannot be evaluated while a country like Ghana can be evaluated. Critical data is missing in our educational system”.
The UK trained expert made these submissions while featuring on a weekly radio show, Ayekooto on Radio’ anchored by Olayinka Agboola and broadcast live on Splash 105.5FM, Felele Ibadan, the capital city of Oyo State recently.
Dr. Adeosun further revealed that the current state of primary education in the country is worrisome while adding that the morale of teachers is at the lowest ebb owing to the lackadaisical attitude of successive governments in the country.
He added: “Education starts from conception; learning does not start from the primary school, it starts the moment a child is born that is why women are the most powerful influencers of education.
There is a plan we designed and submitted to the federal ministry of education known as pre-natal to lifelong learning in which women are the most powerful influencers of children.
“If from conception, we can train the mothers on the importance of education, they will be able to assess, guide their children and come up with solutions. To build education start with the mothers and research has shown that children who started education within 36 months have higher cognitive and mental ability. The foundation of education is built from home”.
Adeosun further urged governments at all levels in the country to prioritize the welfare and training of teachers in the country.
“There should be a teachers’ protection act; I think if a teacher has not received his salary by month end, he should be able to collect 75% of his salary from an education bank which should be urgently set up by our government.”
Dr Adeosun spoke further, “Any country without a skilled workforce will have a high unemployment rate. If our children are educated and gainfully employed, the economy will blossom. Education is a priority and UNESCO has mandated that the budget for education must be 21% and a mechanism must be put in place to manage the funds. This is the time for a digitalized educational system in the South West States especially, in order to monitor the learning ability of each student.
The UK based expert further revealed that the Engr. Seyi Makinde-led administration in Oyo State will need about 47 billion naira to revamp basic education in the state while urging the Federal government to look for a novel way to address learning-poverty and revitalize the educational system in the country.