Driving millennium education goal requires strategic partnerships

Nigeria’s education system has been in long-term decline. According to a recent World Bank study, “employers complain that the quality of university graduates and secondary school graduates, especially their communication skills, have fallen continually for two decades.”

However, it was clearly indicated in the study that improvements in the communication skills and the use of computers and information technologies by graduates will help to increase their productivity.

Different tiers of government have been investing funds in the education sector to ensure that this critical segment of the society is put on a proper pedestal to contribute to national development.

However, allocation to the education sector, whether at the federal or state level, falls far below the United Nations Organisation for Education, Science and Culture’s recommended six percent of GDP, a threshold which the world body stated must be crossed for the sector to be revived and possibly grow to meet current needs.

Currently, Nigeria allocates the equivalent of 1.6 percent of its GDP to education, leaving a huge funding gap which is manifested in inadequate facilities for both students and teachers, and lack of proper maintenance carried out on the available facilities.

In the National Policy on Education (Federal Republic of Nigeria, 2004), the critical role of ICT in the modern world was highlighted. ICT was subsequently integrated into Nigeria’s education curriculum.

To actualise the goal of integrating ICT into the education system, governments were tasked to provide basic infrastructure and training at the primary school level. At the junior secondary school level, computer education was made a pre-vocational elective, and is a vocational elective at the senior secondary level.

The Economic Commission for Africa has indicated that the ability to access and use information is no longer a luxury, but a necessity for development. Unfortunately, many developing counties, especially in Africa, are still low in ICT application and use. Computers with internet access will help to plug this gap.

Pre-school, elementary, secondary and vocational schools are regarded as the building blocks of society’s education system, a situation that makes it imperative for such areas to be given greater attention. In 1999, the Federal Government introduced the Universal Basic Education (UBE) programme aimed at providing access to quality basic education throughout Nigeria.

Adequate and quality education is essentially important for students at the elementary and secondary levels as it will help to imbue in the students a high level of scholarly drive preparatory to going for further studies.

Tertiary institutions will consequently be populated by people who are at least prepared to face the rigours of university education. Unique initiatives such as investments in ICT facilities in primary and secondary education will go a long way in preparing the students for higher education.

While so much lip service has been paid to this pivotal sector, there is growing call for partnership among various levels of government and corporate organisation to drive this change.

Among the standout organisations driving change in the education sector in Nigeria is MTN, using its annual 21 Days of Y’ello Care, a staff volunteerism campaign, in which it mobilised both material and human capital from within the organisation to invest in communities where it operates across the world.

Using the thriving impact information and communications technology (ICT), the organisation have enhanced the quality of education and empower students with up-to-date knowledge and information that will place them at the same level to compete with their peers from other parts of the world. This ties in nicely with the Federal Government’s policy with regard to information and communications technology in the education sector.

Akinwale Goodluck, Corporate Services Executive, described education as a vital tool for social and economic development.

“Through the programme, MTN has contributed towards improving educational standards, providing an enabling environment for learning and enhancing the pivotal role of education in the development of the nation.

Access to the Internet and education will place a number of pupils on the same platform as their counterparts in other developed countries, helping to ensure that they do not suffer learning disadvantages even though they live in a developing country,” he said.

KELECHI EWUZIE