The Registrar of the Joseph Sarwuan Tarka University, Makurdi, Benue State, Dr John David, has decried the high tuition charged by universities owned by churches, making it difficult for children of their members to attend.
David also berated the current situation in the education sector in the country, lamenting that the value of education is gradually being devalued due to the alleged commercialisation of education in the country.
He stated this in a lecture he delivered on Saturday, ahead of the 11th and 12th combined convocation of Wesley University, Ondo, Ondo State.
The lecture was titled, ‘Early church fathers as panacea for sustainable development in Nigeria.’
The don said, “Gradually and steadily, the erstwhile sound missionary schools are giving way to commercialised and unaffordable schools or miracle centres.
“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 expressed worry over the rate of cultism, banditry, kidnapping, and violent lifestyles happening on the campuses of the universities in the country, saying many universities had derailed from being centres of academic excellence that they were originally designed to be.
According to him, this ugly situation in the university system had eroded the reading culture, which is supposed to be the centrepiece of the university, thereby resulting in seriously poor academic performance.
He also identified technology as one of the reasons behind the bad behaviour of many students in tertiary institutions, explaining that the use of Android phones and iPhones contributed to problems of the students in the university.
The convocation lecturer, however, suggested the need for proper discipline in the university system to restore the lost glory of the universities and bring back the glory of the country’s education sector.
Also, he lauded some universities, especially private ones like Wesley University, Ondo, for including strict discipline in their systems and thereby freeing them from social malaise.
-Punch
