Public Schools Should Set Standard for Private Ones – Amaechi

Rivers State Governor, Mr. Rotimi Amaechi,  on Monday canvassed for a holistic approach in the Nigerian education sector whereby government-owned schools would set standard for the privately owned ones.

Amaechi stated this in his presentation titled, “Crisis in Nigeria’s education sector: Addressing the connect between unemployment and insecurity” at the Progressive Governor’s forum meeting,  held in Kano.

The governor, who lamented the decline in the standard of education in the country,  advocated the immediate review  of policies that are anti-development in the sector.

Specifically, he said primary education should be handled by states and not the local government or the Universal Basic Education,  at the federal level.

He said, “Free and compulsory education is not negotiable but we must also take away those things that make it difficult for parents to send their children to school.

“Education should be made attractive by government providing the enabling environment for job creation”

After ensuring a strong foundation at the elementary school level, Amaechi suggested that the federal government to adopt a robust vocational education fashioned after the German approach aimed at employment.

He said government should select a sector with high stable employment,  with interested large employers that lead the way in the sector.

He also stressed the need to strengthen education by improved funding by ensuring that at least 26 percent of the annual budget was voted to the sector.

Such funding he said, should be targeted at  infrastructure development, training and retraining of teachers, adequate remuneration and bridge the skill gaps among handlers of the sector.

Amaechi also urged the federal government to embrace his state approach to resolving militancy across the country by providing education and jobs to the teeming population. (Punch)