The new Minister of Education, Dr Tunji Alausa, has been advised to make teaching and learning more practical and aligned with the development needs of society.
Alausa was appointed on October 24, 2024, following a cabinet reshuffle.
Speaking in an interview with The PUNCH, Dr Dele Ashiru of the Department of Political Science, University of Lagos, said that the Minister of Education should work assiduously to ensure that education in Nigeria is decolonised and made more functional.
“In doing this, there’s the need to review the curriculum to make teaching and learning more functional and tailored towards the development of our society.”
“The Education Ministry under his leadership should ensure that examinations in tertiary institutions are disaggregated. There’s nowhere in the world that I know of that conducts only one examination for Universities, Polytechnics, and Colleges of Education.
“The government must remove all the encumbrances that discourage students from wilfully applying to go to tertiary institutions other than the University.
The Minister should advocate for proper funding of education beyond passing the funding of Education to students and their parents in the name of Education loans.”
Ashiru also told Alausa to promptly address the crises in the Nigerian University System by engaging with unions to resolve ongoing issues and curb the rising brain drain.
“The Minister should also quickly resolve all the crisis in the Nigerian University System by sitting down with the Unions to discuss and resolve all the lingering issues to stem the tide of brain drain,” he added.
He added that university teachers should be commensurately and competitively paid to attract expertise from other countries of the world, saying there was a correlation between the motivation of teachers and the development of societies.
President of the Academy of Medical Sciences, Prof. Oladapo Ashiru, suggested that the Minister ensure timely payments of salaries and benefits for lecturers and provide incentives, such as additional salary from research grants, which could increase up to 35 per cent.
He added “Improve Staff Welfare and Retain Academic Talent, ensure timely payments for salaries and benefits to improve morale, offer incentives and a positive work environment to keep talented staff in Nigeria, create enabling opportunities for grants and additional salary upto 35 per cent from research grants. This will solve all agitation for salary increase.
“Increase Education Funding and Improve Infrastructure. Secure more funding for education, aiming for 15-20 per cent of the national budget.
“Ensure funds are disbursed on time for facilities, research, and staff support. Invest in modern facilities and upkeep of current infrastructure like lecture halls and labs.”
Prof. Ashiru recommended that the Minister support policies that would allow universities to operate with greater independence, reducing external interference. He called for greater investment in research grants and encouraged the development of partnerships between universities, industries, and government agencies to foster innovation and drive development.
“He should strengthen university autonomy,support policies that allow universities more independence, reducing outside interference. Fund research grants and encourage partnerships between universities, industries, and government. Support Academic Freedom and Accountability, protect academic freedom and create systems for transparency and accountability, align courses with global standards and job market needs, with focus on STEM and vocational training, promote University-Industry Partnerships, Work with industries to improve job opportunities and keep education relevant to job skills.
“The Minister should keep open communication with ASUU to address issues before they fester,” he advised. A researcher and education Consultant, Prof. Richard Emmanuel, advised Alausa to prioritise Academic Staff Union of Universities issues, and address the low pay and poor work conditions that demotivate lecturers.
“I want the Minister to take the issue of ASUU seriously. Lecturers are paid peanuts in poor work environments. They are trying but demotivated. If you compare what they earn in Nigeria with what their counterparts earn elsewhere, it is ridiculously low. So, the Minister should focus on that. Even if we print money to pay the lecturers, it is justified. We can hire foreign Consultants to build roads, but we cannot hire foreigners to come and train our highly skilled manpower required to build a nation. No foreigner will even come here with the peanuts we are paying. Infrastructure is also necessary.
He urged Alausa to work with all Commissioners for Education at the state level to ensure that “quality education is what the Nigerian child is getting at that level.
“He must press it on them to build new schools, refurbish dilapidated ones, and train their teachers. It is important to have synergy to achieve that.”
Also, Strategic Management Professional, UK, Michael Yemi, said the focus of the minister should be to overhaul the sector, leveraging the existing suggestions from all key stakeholder groups.
He said, “Many memoranda have been developed in the past and we need to appropriately synthesis them and arrive at a sectoral development plan that enjoys the buy-in of all. As part of that should be to urgently redesign our curricular in totality and retune it to drive national development. Nigeria has what it takes to lead the world, all we now need is the will and the courage to do what is right. For instance, we need to significantly focus on creativity, innovation, and vocational studies.”
-Punchng
