Mature Minds Group Proffers Solutions To Challenges In Ekiti Education Sector
*COMMUNIQUE ISSUED BY MATURE MINDS COMMUNITY AT THE END OF DISCUSSION ON THE STATE OF EKITI EDUCATION SECTOR:*
The Mature Minds Community convened to assess the state of education in Ekiti and expressed concern over its declining standards and low student enrollment. The participants identified several key issues contributing to the sector’s downturn:
– *Understaffing*: Public schools suffer from severe shortages of teaching staff, leading to low enrollment figures, particularly in rural areas. This has forced parents to hire “PTA teachers” to compensate for the lack of government teachers.
– *Lack of Effective Monitoring and Supervision*: The Ministry of Education was criticized for failing to monitor and supervise staff effectively. The participants urged the ministry to provide stronger leadership and clear direction.
– *Quality of Teachers*: There were serious concerns about the competence of teachers, highlighting a pressing need for improved training and capacity building.
– *Imbalanced Career Promotion*: The promotion structure within the education system is flawed, causing Level 10–14 officers to supervise principals on Grade Levels 16 and 17, which leads to supervision issues.
– *Outdated Technical Equipment*: Most schools are still using obsolete equipment, dating back to the Shagari administration of 1982.
– **Private School Practices**: Private schools were criticized for their business practices, particularly selling non-reusable textbooks every term and overloading students with homework, placing undue responsibility on parents.
*Resolution:*
The community called for an urgent *education summit* involving all stakeholders to address the challenges in the sector and propose viable solutions.
The Mature Minds Community further noted:
1. Ekiti, once celebrated for its educational excellence, has lost its prestige over the years. The state must work to regain this status.
2. The Ministry of Education needs to address the factors contributing to the decline in educational quality.
3. The Ministry must effectively perform its oversight functions, ensuring proper monitoring of schools in Ekiti to resolve issues affecting education quality.
4. The government must urgently address the commercialization of education by private schools, which extort money from parents through various means, including:
– Forcing parents to buy overpriced books directly from the schools.
– Charging excessive fees for special exams outside of regular tuition.
– Requiring parents to supply toiletries and other materials each term, imposing unnecessary financial burdens.
5. The government must put an end to the frequent textbook changes imposed by private schools, which make it impossible for younger siblings to reuse textbooks. Given the current economic hardship, denying parents this option reflects greed and exploitation by school proprietors. The irony is that these school owners benefitted from the very system they now deprive students of.
6. The government should stop private schools from shifting their teaching responsibilities onto parents. Currently, schools assign a heavy load of daily homework, effectively outsourcing half of their work to parents who have already paid school fees for these tasks. Students return home after long school hours (8 a.m. to 5 p.m.), only to face two more hours of homework. This practice overburdens both students and parents. If schools performed their duties efficiently, there would be no need for such excessive homework. In the past, schools managed to educate students effectively without relying on parental input, even when most parents were illiterate.
7. The Ministry of Education should conduct unannounced visits to schools, similar to the “inspector” visits of old, to get a true sense of the situation on the ground.
8. The Ministry must enforce global best practices in education. For example, the teacher-to-student ratio must be properly maintained for effective learning, a standard that has been compromised in recent times.
9. Many schools do not meet the minimum standards required for licensing, especially in areas like sports and recreation facilities. Playtime is essential for the intellectual development of young students. Yet, some schools keep students in classrooms from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. without any playtime, which harms their cognitive growth during these formative years.
10. The education curriculum must be updated to reflect current realities. This is essential for restoring the state’s lost educational glory. While the Governor is making efforts, the Ministry of Education needs to take full responsibility for addressing these critical issues.
Signed
Hon Ehinafe Odunayo
Convener
