Professor Oyesoji Aremu, Head of Department, Counselling and Human Development Studies, Faculty of Education, University of Ibadan, is the Chairman, the Osun State Education Summit 2023. He sheds light on the terms of reference of his members vis-a-vis the state of education in the state and what to expect from the summit in this interview with AKINWALE ABOLUWADE.
You are to chair the Osun State Education Summit 2023; what would be the main focus of the summit?
I want to thank the Governor of Osun State, Senator Adeleke Nurudeen Jackson, for deeming it necessary to appoint me as the chairman of the Osun Education Summit 2023. Many professors are there, other distinguished members and some reputable citizens of Osun State and others outside Osun State. Actually, that is not the first Education Summit in the state. Recall that 12 or 13years ago, we had a summit. The renowned Professor Wole Soyinka was the chairman. The essence of the (2023) summit is to really brainstorm on what should be the policy roadmap, a benchmark or a blueprint on what education should look like in Osun. From the committee on the summit, the people of Osun State should expect a roadmap which the government of Governor Adeleke would follow on education in Osun State. These include primary education, secondary, technical as well as higher institutions in Osun State. In a nutshell, we shall be taking about what should be the policy that the government would follow. The people of Osun, should expect – God helping us – very strong policies that would be sustainable and help to rejig the dwindling fortunes of education in Osun State. We have to talk with facts: currently, Osun State ranks 35th going by WAEC. We are using only one threshold of evaluation in Senior Secondary School 3 WAEC and NECO result. The results from the two examination bodies are close if we use them as a benchmark in Osun State. In a nutshell, Osun State is at the lower rungs of the ladder, and for an average individual, for a lover and citizens of the state, nobody will be happy about that.
That you are number 34th or 35th position out of 36 states may not mean you are performing poorly, provided other measurement indices are very good. As educationists, we talk about that as having a very good performance. But when you are in 35th or 36th position and the performance falls below specific standard which we call pass mark in the field of education, it shows that performance is poor and nothing to write home about. That informs the policy maker, the government of the state, to say we need to do something about education in Osun State, to rejig it and let it be competitively at par with best states in Nigeria.
I forsee a situation in which – it won’t be immediate of course – miracles do happen – that come next year, Osun State would now be among the first to 10th (position). We are not saying that, but we are saying that we would move significantly from that position to something much better. So, in the next two to three years, Osun State should be at par with the best states in Nigeria when it comes to rating. That is talking about NECO and WAEC. We also have other levels, those in primary, JS1 to JS3, SS1 to SS3, the technical and the higher education sectors. We also expect that our universities – Osun State has two universities – Osun State University and University of Ilesa – to do well. I think the state government is looking at everything holistically, giving a definite and sustainable roadmap to education in our dear state.
Educational system as well as curriculum keep changing in Nigeria. How do you ensure that there is stability in the Osun State educational system bearing in mind the fact that the state cannot be in isolation?
Recall that I said that the government is thinking of giving the state a sustainable education blueprint. We are talking of education in which the curriculum of education in the state would be at par with national curriculum. I am sorry I want to say this – This is one of the areas where Osun State missed it in the past. Osun State was running a system that was not at par with what obtained nationally and that was not too good. Mind you, if you are running a system that is not at par with what obtains nationally, whether you like it or not, those in the certificate classes in your state will write the same examination. You are putting those students at a disadvantage.
Ideally, the committee would look into this and ensure that the curriculum we are going to run in the state would be at par with what is approved nationally by the National Curriculum Committee as regards benchmark. We are not going to have a system of education that is not at par with what obtains nationally. Mind you, they will take the same examination, whether we like it or not.
Why do you think that the state needs an education summit now?
I said this during the inauguration of the summit last week Friday at the Executive Lounge of the Governor’s office. Number one, we would not have needed any other summit again if the report of the last summit was adhered to religiously. Osun State would require a sustainable education policy. Mind you, in other places – I am not talking of Nigeria – what people talk about is having a sustainable policy on education. The policy that was on ground, one way or the other, is not really helping the state to be competitively at par with other states in Nigeria. So, I would refer to this as what they refer to as policy summersault in education. When you have a policy summersault in which what you have is not at par with what others are doing, you are having a policy in place in which the learning outcomes – talking about the evaluation, the end of term or semester examination, being measured and the state government, stakeholders, parents and guardians are not happy about it, even students are not happy about it. One, it could affect the psychology of such a child, the parents and the wellness of the stakeholders and it could even give stigma to the state. I think this is exactly what the state is looking at. The reason why the government of Senator Adeleke feels very strong that if they get it right in education, they would get it right in other sectors is because education drives other sectors. That is why the government is coming up with another summit this time around. My only hope is that we would do our work assiduously. The policy we would put on ground would be fool proof; I am not saying 100per cent but as much as possible, the probability of error in the report, probably would just be 2 or 3per cent. If that is the case, it means it is now left for the government to be able to work the policy/ blueprint by making it sustainable. Being sustainable means all hands have to be on deck to make it work.
The review of the Osun education policy might bring about improvement in infrastructure etc. thereby making it more costly, would this not take away access to education from the reach of the poor?
Higher education in Osun State is not free. What is free in the state is the primary and secondary school education. If we leave the higher institutions out of it, ideally the government can fund this. It is just about looking at what do we earmark to the education sector in form of funding coming to the state. Budgetary allocation has to be very good. I am not going to say that it should be up to the recommendation of the UNESCO. Budgetary allocation should be very good for it to address the decay in the system. I was the national president of old students association of my school. Personally, most of us don’t feel happy about the decay in many schools. I am talking of the first generation schools that were founded in the 50s that are now eyesore. These are things that government should look into. I am not saying that government should begin to build new schools, no. But the existing ones, how do you ensure that the infrastructure are upgraded? Let me tell you one of the things that accounts for academic failure. It has to do with quality of infrastructure. Research has shown that if you are attending a school where the infrastructure is very good, you would wake up in the morning, you would be motivated. You would have the desire to go to school and stay there to read. But, when you have a dilapidated building, you are studying in a decayed classroom in which the roof is leaking, you won’t feel motivated to learn. Same thing goes for teachers. I think we should move beyond chalk and blackboard this time around. We should be talking about ICT enabled education this time around. This would gulp a lot of money but I want to leave that to the government. The government should be able to call other stakeholders, the Parents Teachers Association, to say how do you want to help the government? It is not only by giving money that we can help the government. Right now, the old students are building a multi million naira gate in my school. Government can engage in partnership with other stakeholders.
Are you suggesting a kind of subsidy to education in the state?
Government should be thinking that there is nowhere government alone can fund education again. I think we need a kind of collaboration or partnership for quality education in Osun State. Other states like Lagos, Delta and even of recent Ondo State came up with some policies. I also recall that Oyo State was also thinking along that line. Osun State should come out with something very unique through which we can deliver on education in the state.
Summits like this usually birth the assessment of teachers, recall that this usually set teachers and government on warpath; how do you hope to address this kind of situation?
I wonder why teachers should fear assessment and I wonder why teachers should fear retraining. Perhaps because of my training and calling, when it comes to training and retraining, one of the things that we enjoy in the university is going on conferences. It will retool us and reskill us to know and do better the way we do research and teaching and the way we render community services like we are doing now. I don’t think an average teacher in Osun State should worry about training and assessment. You see, as much as possible, teachers in Osun State should embrace and welcome the idea of the summit. I was once a teacher in Osun State. I am very sure that the government is not going to come out with punitive measures. Far from it, but how do we get the best from our teachers through training and retraining, workshop. We are going to recommend it; they will go for workshop and training to retool themselves. This is very important because an average teacher should be on top of his or her game. The students you are teaching this days get their phones and know everything and they go to their teachers. If you are teaching Government in class and you are talking about the concept of Rule of Law and you begin to quote AV Dicey in the area of Rule of Law and your student is quoting a recent authority you may feel somehow bad about it. But then, I think what the anxiety should be about is how government would improve their motivation and welfare not about training and assessment. But again, I had said I don’t think that government is going to come out with a punitive assessment. But certainly, we are going to recommend training for them to improve on what they do.
Somebody told me that in the whole of a local government – I won’t mention the local government – there is only one Geography teacher. How can you have a Geography teacher in the whole of a local government; a big local government and we have more Geography teachers in the state capital? How do you motivate teachers to go to other local government council areas? Number one, they are not even enough and even the ones that we have are concentrated in the state capital. What we are saying in effect is that schools in that local government would not boast of students that would study architecture. The summit will look at the number of schools that we have, the number of students and the number of teachers that we have. There are basic minimum standards, whether we like it or not, for example, the students teachers ratio that we have. In a situation where we have more students, we are talking about the problems of building and so on and so forth. You don’t even have a corresponding number of teachers to teach. I just mentioned Geography that could affect the manpower in the area of architecture. What about other areas where you don’t have Physics and Biology teachers? How do you produce medical personnel in future or (where) you don’t even have Literature in English teachers, how do you produce Lawyers and other (professionals)? In the area of technical education, what the learners are being taught are theories, not hands on things to use their brains to do. For this, there would be issues. I think there is a lot to do in the sector.
