September 27, (THEWILL) – The proprietor of Topfaith Schools, Mkpatak in Essien Udim Local Government Area, Akwa Ibom State, Dr Emmanuel Abraham, has attributed the falling standard of education in the country to what he terms refugee recruitment of teachers.
Speaking with newsmen on the school premises on Tuesday, the scholar recalled that teachers were given preference by the government in Education faculties across all universities in the early sixties and seventies, but regretted such incentives have been stopped.
Explaining refugee recruitment as a situation in the school system, where teachers who are looking for means of livelihood are employed to teach in schools without passion for the job, the proprietor observed that manpower has deteriorated in the school system, such that those left now are best described as “refugee teachers.”
Abraham, whose secondary school produced students with the highest score in the 2023 WAEC examination in Nigeria, argued that the cause of the falling standard of education in recent times is attitudinal and urged the government and stakeholders to tackle it accordingly.
“Government should train teachers as a solution to the falling standard of education in Nigeria.
“In my days when we were taught by grade two teachers from Teachers Training College (TTC) the pedagogy, methodology, psychology, content, and context of how to be a teacher were taught. So, when you come out, you are a complete personality to mould and bring out another personality”, he explained.
He observed that in the present educational system, the NCE teachers are more qualified than the grade two teachers in the past, but are struggling in mathematics and other subjects outside their area of specialisation.
“We need to enrich and expand the curricular lecture of the NCE programme or we train more of grade two teachers so that they can operate in primary education as secondary schools, by only teaching in their area of specialisation or we dwell more on NCE primary education only.”
The proprietor, who is celebrating 20 years anniversary of Topfaith schools, explained that the success of the school depends on extensive training of teachers adding that the output of teachers depends on how they are treated to play the role of “second God” in the society.
He advised the government to review teachers recruitment process and welfare for effective Intervention in the falling standard of education.
“In the days of Teachers Training College (TTC) it was tuition-free for all teachers undergoing training in the college. The government paid them allowances to encourage indigent students who were brilliant, but could not afford high fees for University education, but decided to become teachers with incentives and understanding that at the end of the training, they would be employed.
“When I was in the Faculty of Education in the University, undergraduates in education did not pay fees just to encourage us. We even received allowances from the government. Now the incentives are no more. It contributes to the falling standard of education”, he stressed.
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