Tinubu Urged to Increase Education Budget, Review Curriculum

 

By Nurat Uthman

Education experts and other stakeholders in the education sector have called on the new administration of President Bola Tinubu to increase the budgetary allocation to 30 per cent for quality teaching and learning.

The stakeholders who gathered in Lagos on Friday for the maiden edition of the School Leaders Conference, bemoaned the poor funding and neglect of the education system in the country over the years by subsequent administrations.

According to the participants at the event drawn from both private and public practice across the country including principals, school owners, and administrators, among others, a critical sector like education requires adequate funding to develop the human capacity needs of the nation.

The conference, themed: “Building to Last in a Rapidly Changing Modern World”, and organised by the Learning As I Teach, LAIT, Foundation Africa, to bring school leaders together to collaborate, deliberate, think together and forge a unified path to building lasting institutions in Africa.

Delivering the keynote address, the founder of LAIT foundation and convener of the programme, Dr Abimbola Ogundere, stressed the need for more funding of education in Nigeria.

She charged the Federal Government to adopt strategies such as reviewing the curriculum of colleges and faculties of education and appointing professional educators in education administration positions such as commissioners and ministers that will ensure Nigeria’s education system does not collapse.

The convener said: “It is funny to think that the foundation of the future is not well funded. We know that less than 20 per cent of the budget of the whole nation goes to education. So we are asking that there is more funding to aid infrastructure – physical and technological, train and empower teachers, increase remuneration, and curriculum review, among others.

“It is crucial that there is a spotlight on funding the sector and equipping the teachers. There is so much infrastructure that needs to be put in place. You go into an average public school somewhere, and children are still sitting on the floor. We don’t need that in 2023.

“It is important that the new administration should pay adequate attention to the education sector by bringing in leaders that have the experience to be in charge. We can’t continue to have ministers and commissioners for education who are not professional educators make decisions for the sector.

“We want to have a review where there is proper accountability. You have things in place, but nobody holds educators and other stakeholders accountable.”

When asked how much of the national budget should be allocated to education, Ogundere recommended 30 per cent. “Honestly, at least UNESCO recommended 30 per cent. The standard and future of the nation is in the education of its people. So we need to fund that sector.”

Also contributing during a panel session, the Executive Chairman of Edo State Universal Basic Education Board, SUBEB, Ozavize Salami, said the theme of the conference was very relevant and in line with reforms going on in the education sector.

According to her, a lot of reforms and new initiatives were taking place in the sector while stressing the need to put measures in place to sustain the reforms by both the government and private players.