Before we can adequately and meaningfully contribute to this topic above, we must first and foremost understand the key words of the topic before tracing who is responsible for the “falling standard of education in Nigeria”.
The following words fall out to be the key words, Alleged, Falling, Standard and Education.
ALLEGED: According to Oxford Advanced Learners Dictionary’s interpretation, means to state something as a fact but without giving proof.
FALLING: Means the act of coming or going down freely by force of weight, loss of balance.
STANDARD: Means level of qualities of something espcialIy one that people think is acceptable.
EDUCATION: Means process of teaching, training and learning especially in schools, colleges to improve knowledge and development.
On the part of government, it had neglected education by relegating teachers to the back ground. Infrastructural materials in our educational institutions are dilapidating and decaying fast without improvement. Lack of teaching aids to enhance teaching and learning in our schools is grossly affecting the solid sound educational foundation of the child.
Undoubtedly, it is when a foundation of an edifice is solid, sound and firm that its roof can withstand strong wind. This wind can be regarded as educational challenges.
For any nation to attain a solid educational foundation at the primary and secondary school levels, teacher’s welfare, provision of infrastructural materials, teaching aids and adequate funding of the educational sectors, as well as proper implementation of educational policies to the core must be made paramount. In which case, undeveloped, misdeveloped, and under developed minds which is the kingdom of ignorance and error, a congenial abode of morbid desire, confused memory and injurious affection will be highly mitigated or minised in the society.
In addition, teachers in the primary and secondary schools like their counter parts in the tertiary institutions of learning should be given teachers special scale (T.S.S) to encourage productivity and hard work in the primary and secondary sector.
According to J.S Farrant in his principles and Practice of Education, states that.
“One of the reappraisals of teachers education was to do away with the long established belief that training is something that teacher’s are given at the beginning of their career to last them to the end. In its place came the realization that the changing demands upon teachers and the speed with which these changes arrive make it necessary to think of teacher’s education as a series of phases/ cycles.
(a) Pre-service training given before the teacher begins to teach.
(b) Induction given during the teacher’s initial teaching experience.
(c) In-service training given as needs arise through out the teacher’s career. This is very important as it enables teachers to remain on the job while they receive their training by means of correspondence lessons, especially prepared broadcasts and occasional face to face meeting with their tutors. Tell me what the government has done to put these in place.
According to the National Chairman of students Union, ‘he said that teachers demand for this recent strike action was genuine because the poor salary has made many illustrious citizens of Nigeria run away from teaching profession.
For reasons best known to the PRESIDENT and his Executives who are suppose to represent the interest of the common man, they refuse blatantly to hearken to the clamour of the common man. They should know that GOD loves the common man most, hence HE created them more.
According to the prophet Muhammed (Slalahu Wasalam) He said “One of the ingredients of peace is the ability to accommodate the views of others and recognize the decision of the majority even if it’s against your wish” If this is true, the President who is a Muslim allow others who are fake friends to deceive him and feel reluctant to implement teachers special scale (T.S.S).
Let me start by first of all disabusing the minds of the masses from the ugly insinuation that teachers of this days are not working as hard as teacher of those days when educational materials were more available. I put it to you that an average teacher in the primary and secondary schools, these days handles not less than Fifty pupils/students under unconducive, unpalatable and of course unbearable condition’s.
On the part of the parents, they do not allow their children to mature before sending them to school. They are not patient to allow their children to pass thought the process of teaching, training and learning in schools to improve knowledge and development.
They want them to start today and finish today with out devoting time to check and monitor their academic performances/development. They shelve their responsibilities of giving their children sound informal education before sending them to teachers in the schools. Informal education helps to improve the child’s cognitive, sychomotive and affective domain of the child.
Teachers have observed that children that had informal education before they were sent to the teachers at schools perform better than those who are denied of this training.
Poor performance of pupils and students especially in government schools is also as a result of parents who send the children/ wards to hawk for them instead of allowing them to consolidate on their classroom learning and do their home work.
Most parents (80%) are no longer happy seeing their children repeating a class. They move at an unbridled length to ensure that their child is promoted to the next class.
The pupils/students have little or no blame at all in the falling standard of education in Nigeria. The teachers believe that there is no brain of a child that cannot be developed if the government, parents and teachers themselves play their roles effectively towards enhancing a solid educational foundation for the child.
Knowing well enough that education will be meaningless without competent, dedicated and of course interested teachers. Based on this, the down trodden masses are confidently hopeful that the president and executives would utilize their sterling attributes of mental alertness, administrative ingenuity and sagacity, social compatibility and congruency, and above all, the zest for moral probity and integrity to fight tenaciously and make T.S.S a reality and improve tremendously on the realm and caprices of education in Nigeria, bearing in mind that history is the record of our deeds.
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