FG challenges unity schools over quality education for students – www.cliptvonline.com ~

By Joseph Erunke

ABUJA–Unity schools in the country have been asked to change their methods of teaching with a view to impacting quality education on school children.

The federal government which said this, Monday, insisted that the nation’s 110 unity colleges must put all necessary measures in place towards giving children qualitative education.

Minister of State for Education, Chukwuemeka Nwajiuba,spoke while delivering a keynote address at the 2020 Annual General Meeting (AGM) of principals of Federal Unity Colleges with the theme, ‘Restructuring Our Educational System to suit our challenging times”, in Abuja.

He emphasized the need to have Nigerian students address societal needs

He said schools must reform their method of teaching and learning in order to ensuredelivery of quality education in line with global best practices.

On the other hand, the government pledged to address the challenges of poor management and leadership style, inadequate classrooms, staff and students indiscipline, inadequate number of qualified teachers, inadequate staff welfare, poor academic performance, and inadequate funding which has resulted to dilapidated furniture and unfinished projects in Unity colleges.

He further charged the principals not to be deterred by thechallenges bedevilling the education sector, butbrace up to their responsibilities and return the colleges to centres of excellence by teaching and nurturing the students to achieve expected behaviours.

According to him, the establishment of six new Federal Science and Technical Colleges (FSTCS) would go a long way in promoting the acquisition of entrepreneurial skills for self-reliance.

He said: “It is imperative in ensuring qualitative instructional delivery so as to maximize student performance in conformity with the societal needs.

“This entails that the present system of education should be modified by reforming learning, curriculum and pedagogy, to keep abreast with modern global practices in Education.

“The Government is making concerted efforts to deliver quality education in line with Mr. President’s nine-point agendawhich emphasizes on access to quality education. Easy access to quality education for all is on course and we are determined to reset our priorities, specify our targets, programmes and strategies in other to make this a concrete and measurable reality in the education sector.

“To further achieve the objectives of quality education for all, we need the collective support, co-operation and sincere commitment of all the key players, especially you the Principals of the FUCs.

“I implore you to be more committed and to exhibit professionalism in handling various issues in the Colleges. Your well articulated inputs in this meeting will go a long way in achieving the much desired repositioning of Federal Unity Colleges.”

Making emphasis on the effect of the COVID-19 pandemic on education delivery, Chairman, Principals of Federal Unity Colleges, Dr. Tokunbo Yakubu-Oyinloye,appealed to the Federal Government to upgrade the Information Communication Technology (ICT) facilities and also increase funding to the Colleges to ensure effective and efficient delivery of educational services.

She said: “We will all agree that we are in challenging times especially with the advent of Covid – 19 which has made a great difference in every aspect of life all over the world. There is also the explosion of knowledge, the increased spread of social media and the ascendancy of the digital age which are the things we have to grapple with.

“Many of our schools had to incorporate online teaching methods and e-Learning with the use of ICT into our teaching and learning last year to ensure our students did not lose out during the lockdown caused by the epidemic.

“This was a wake up call to many of us that in this 21st century we would have to adopt and adapt new ideas and new technologies to be able to provide the best education possible to our students.”