Declare State Of Emergency On School Infrastructure – Lawmaker To FG

Ihonvbere noted that policy inconsistency, poor funding and inadequate basic facilities were major challenges in the education sector and he lamented the inability of state governments to use their Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC) matching grants.
“There is a problem of absence of policy consistency and even when we have good policies, there is very limited follow-up and at times poor funding of those programmes so that they would have deep root and consistency and replication within the system. There is a weak administrative system in our schools,” he said.
“We want an emergency to be declared on school infrastructure. The children are schooling under very dangerous buildings.
“Also, people who manage the schools themselves need to be reeducated. There is a need for special programmes to bring teachers and instructors into the digital age. You cannot teach what you don’t have or know.”
HDI’s executive director, Olufunsho Owasanoye on her part noted that education is everyone’s responsibility.
“In our own little corner, we have to look for the strategies to move education to the next level,” she said.
“COVID has changed so many things, so we need to change our value system and our orientation. Education doesn’t have to be within the four walls of the classroom because everything is about technology now.”