Education Minister Adamu Adamu and his illiterate graduates

 Adamu Adamu

Nigerian Minister of Education

The Nigerian Minister of Education, Adamu Adamu has lamented that many

Nigerian graduates cannot read or write.

This makes them illiterates.

By his kind admittance, the Minister if he is conscientious must be sad . It was Karl Marx who said that ' the philosophers have interpreted the world in various ways. The point is to change it.'

Now that the Minister whose duty it is to change the situation has identified the problem, what then is his solution?

He sees the problem from the perspectives of students and their teachers and has asked them to brace up.

The problem is multidimensional and much as I agree with the Minister that teachers and their students should brace up, it tantamount to abdication of responsibility when a school owner in this case the Government ably represented by the Minister is blaming students and teachers for poor results in his school.

A school owner who admits that his results are sub par has to do more than blame teachers and students.

For a start, the role of the school owner has to be examined. Ab initio, are the students and teachers qualified?

It is the duty of the school owner to set the required standards and ensure that they are met. In addition, the learning environment has to be encouraging.

Our public Universities are being over looked for local private Universities and Universities in neighbouring countries.

Sure, this is beyond the teachers and their students. When needed funds are not provided and staff morale is very low, then the school owners have a role to play.

The present plague of insecurity is sure beyond teachers and their students.

To reverse the falling standards of Education in Nigeria, the government has to really brace up and lead the charge by laying and following required standards in terms of infrastructure, security and staff motivation.

Anything short of that will be like building castles in the air.