Onwuka Nzeshi
3 June 2008
Abuja — The Civil Society Action Coalition on Education For All (CSACEFA) has expressed anger at the state of education in Nigeria and the pace at which the present administration has been moving to address issues in the sector.
It said President Umar Musa Yar' Adua must declare a state of emergency in the sector and ensure close monitoring of educational policies and programmes if his Vision 2020 is to be realised.
National Moderator of the Cooalition. Mrs Felicia Onibon said that with seven years to the 2015 landmark, the Education For All (EFA) goals and Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), about 20 million children of school age are currently not in school in Nigeria.
Onibon who spoke at a media chat to commemorate the 2008 Children's Day celebration, disclosed that Nigeria is one of the only two countries among nine of the world's most populous countries that will not meet the Education For All goals by 2015.
She said that the deplorable state of out of school children has created a depressing scenario of street urchins, child labourers and children beggars on the streets of Nigeria while those in school are constrained to learn in dilapidated classrooms and forced to pay sundry levies that does not guarantee quality teaching and learning.
"Majority of Nigerian children receive a quality of education that is extremely poor, leaving them without skills and knowledge they need to lift them out of poverty. This is totally unacceptable. As a leading African nation, this in itself questions our leadership position if indeed we lag behind every African nation in education delivery. Nigerians are weary about the current momentum by the present administration. We call for a state of emergency in the education sector and request that Mr. President himself ensure that the priority given to education gains his close a attention if his vision 202020 is to become a reality.
"By today's standard, this vision can only be a dream if the education sector is not given the political will it requires to develop Nigeria into a modern economy. Unless fast paced policy interventions matched with massive political will are urgently introduced into the system, the fate and future of millions of Nigerian children will remain undecided," she said.
Onibon remarked that though the current administration champions accountability and respect for the rule of law, it is yet to keep faith with the fundamentals required to raise levels of accountability in the education sector especially in relation to basic education. According to her the non-institutionallisation of Community Accountability and Transparency Initiative (CATI) and other laudable policies that would facilitate responsiveness, enhance opportunities to address denials and violations as well as ensure education rights for millions of Nigerian children leaves much to be desired.
Onibon argued that for Nigeria to get out of the current situation, government should consistently invest in education infrastructure, declare total abolition of school fees and other hidden charges at the basic education level and ensure that the Child Rights Act is passed and implemented in all the 36 states of the federation and the Federal capital Territory.
She urged government at all levels to take appropriate legislative, administrative, budgetary, judicial and other necessary measures towards the full realisation of the right of every Nigerian child to quality education.
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