The convener of the CURVE development project, Michael Omisore, has proposed a comprehensive overhaul of Nigeria’s education system to address the widening gap between students in public and private schools.
The convener proposed the overhaul following the completion of a 25-week project designed to reorient today’s youth and equip them to become skilled professionals and successful individuals.
Speaking at the end of the training titled “Youth orientation and empowerment: The key to peace, progress, and productivity in today’s Nigeria,” held on Friday in the Oregun area of Lagos State, Omisore said the current education system would not help today’s youths.
Omisore emphasised the importance of addressing the youth’s attitude towards education, urging the government to recognise that “the approach to learning and education in the 1980s cannot be the same for today’s children.”
“We need to rebrand education in Nigeria. Until the average teacher feels they can confidently sit alongside those working in the oil industry, Nigeria’s education system will not change.
“The third key element is mass mobilisation and orientation. Without these steps, we will continue to joke about the state of education in Nigeria.”
Warning that the decline in standards of public schools could negatively impact students graduating from these institutions, Doyin Ijiwola, founder of TechCiti, a company focused on helping children leverage opportunities in the digital space, stated that investing in the digital sector will help bridge the divide.
Ijiwola said, “There is a significant gap between the haves and have-nots. Since everyone will eventually meet in the labour market, graduates from private schools are more likely to secure employment.
“Being in a public school in Nigeria already puts you at a disadvantage. However, there is a way to bridge this gap. I am a product of a public school myself, but I found technology. Tech can potentially close the divide between the haves and have-nots.”
Credit: THE PUNCH
