Leadership (Abuja)
Stanley Yakubu
8 November 2009
Abuja — Opposes sending teachers to South Africa Worried over the poor results recorded in the 2009 May/June WAEC and NECO examinations in the country, the Action Congress (AC) has tasked the Federal Government on poor standard of education, saying the poor showing is symptomatic of a falling educational standard.
In a statement issued and made available to LEADERSHIP yesterday by its National Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, the party said, it is even more concerned and alarmed that despite the poor results, the Federal Ministry of Education has embarked on recruiting Maths and Science teachers to be sent to South Africa. "It is nothing short of a misadventure at best, and downright sabotage of Nigeria's educational system at worst, for the Federal Ministry of Education to embark on the mass recruiting and shipping of qualified Maths and Science teachers in Nigeria to South Africa, at a time that the rate of failure in maths and the sciences in Nigeria is at an all time high.
"It is unconscionable that the Nigerian government will be seeking to send qualified teachers, who are not even enough for Nigerian schools, to South Africa, with perhaps a better educational system and better results in similar examinations. What our government is doing in essence is expressly encouraging brain drain. This is unpatriotic and must be stopped today," AC said. The party said the issue involved here is the very future of the country, which cannot be reduced to any political game. It noted that the results of the May/June 2009 WAEC as well as the last NECO exams were so poor that some councils in the country could not boast of one candidate with five credits, including English and Mathematics. Overall, AC noted, only about 10.53 per cent of those who sat for the NECO exam passed with five subjects, including English and Maths, just as only a quarter of those who sat for the WAEC exam had five credits including the two key subjects. "With this kind of result, the future of our country is in danger, just as the dream of propelling the country to the ranks of the 20 top nations by the year 2020 is in jeopardy.
Yet, it seems only the Federal Ministry of Education cannot see this danger. Otherwise, the ministry would not have embarked on this condemnable idea of depriving Nigerian schools of the much-needed Maths and Science teachers. "There is no point trying to look good outside when indeed you are not good at home. Whoever is behind this dangerous recruitment that could starve the country's schools of much-needed qualified teachers should stop it today. It is not too late!" AC said. The party called on the federal government to pay more attention to the activities of the Federal Ministry of Education, saying recent developments, including the just-ended, long drawn strike by University teachers, do not inspire any confidence in the leadership of the key ministry.
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