ASUU, others to develop new education policy

The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) in conjunction with the National Association of Academic Technologists (NAAT), Non-academic Staff Union of Universities and Associated Institutions (NASU) and Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities (SSANU) is to develop a new education policy (Charter) which will reflect the aspirations, culture, values and realities of the Nigeria people within the context of a dynamic world.

The unions led by ASUU will therefore present the new education policy to the Federal Government.

In a communiqué jointly signed by the president of the four unions at the end of a-week National Education Summit held in Abuja a copy which was made available to newsmen in Ibadan by the Ibadan Zonal Coordinator of ASUU,  Olusegun Ajiboye, a Professor said the current educational system was characterised by chronic under funding, bad leadership, and infrastructural decay, poor conditions of learning and service, promotion of mediocrity, shortage of personnel (academic, technical and administrative) and entrenchment of orthodoxy, parochialism and chauvinism”

While calling on federal government to declare state of emergency in the education sector called for the reconceptualisation of the Nigerian Education sector in a manner capable of performing its transformative functions for the individuals, groups and the nation at large.

The four unions which jointly held the summit with theme “Towards a System of Education for Liberation in Nigeria” warned the federal government not to use public funds such as Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund), Petroleum Trust Development Fund (PTDF) among others to fund private educational institutions and associated enterprises.

While condemning corruption, lack of professionalism, poor and opportunistic leadership, and unethical conducts that impinge on learning environment and the integrity of teaching and research, the unions called on members nationwide to rid the sector of these ills.

The unions rejected the systematic privatization of education and selling off of public educational institutions in which they described education as public good which must not be left in the hands of private individuals who are driven solely by profit.

The communiqué added that the “fundamental problem bedeviling the Educational system in Nigeria is that it is located within a philosophical and political economic system which emphasizes personal self-enrichment and individual aggrandizement instead of emphasizing knowledge acquisition geared towards public good and national development”

The current philosophy on education, the unions emphasised does not address the realities, identities, values, customs and aspirations of the Nigerian people.

Remi Feyisipo