Abdul-Rahman Abubakar & Turaki A. Hassan
16 December 2008
To improve the falling standards of education in the country, governments at all levels must set aside 26 percent of their annual budgets to fund education. This was part of recommendations of the National Summit on Education convened by the Senate last week.
A communiqué released by the Senate Committee on Education said to check the decay in the sector "Funding of Education be significantly and progressively increased to at least the UNESCO recommendation level of 26 percent of the annual budget of all levels of government over the next five years."
The communiqué advised government to review its commitment to tuition free policy saying, "Government should seek partnerships, nationally and internationally, through incentives and encouragement in the funding of education."
On the future of Unity Secondary Schools the summit recommended that they "Should continue to be operated and managed by the federal government in line with the basic objectives and policy that establish them."
The summit expressed support for admission into tertiary institutions in the country through matriculation examinations and post matriculation screening to be conducted by the institutions.
On the dichotomy that exist between universities and polytechnics graduates, the communiqué recommended that "Polytechnics and colleges of education in the country be equipped, empowered, and re-positioned to offer programmes leading to the award of Bachelor of Technology and Bachelor of Education, respectively."
The communiqué expressed doubt on the possibility of achieving the vision 2020 of federal government saying the poor patronage and subscription to technical, technological and vocational education in the country could hamper rapid development.
Chairman of the Senate Committee on education had said the vision 2020 would only be achieved if government immediately device ways of turning around the dwindling fortune of the education sector in the country. Federal government has earmarked to spend N33 billion out of a total of N2.8 trillion on education in the 2009 budget.
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