Policy reversals, summersaults stunting educational growth, says Bamgbose

Unending policy reversals and summersaults in the education sector has been identified as a major factor militating against the country’s educational development, according to Founder/Chief Executive Officer, Educational Advancement Centre (EAC), Ibadan, Mr. Muyiwa Bamgbose.

Bamgbose, who spoke during the 20th-anniversary seminar and the launch of “School-on-Air” video tutorial for secondary school students, at the National Institute of International Affairs (NIIA), Lagos, regretted that successive governments hardly uphold the legacy of their predecessors.

He said since government is a continuum, leaders at all levels should endeavour to sustain meaningful innovations of previous administrations as it is through such that the sector will continue to grow and witness desired advancement.

He said Nigeria, as the giant of Africa should lead by example, and that is by embracing good ideas, without minding the political undertone.

He said, “In the recent times, several policies are made and not implemented due to the inability of successive governments to build on the legacies of their predecessors. It is obvious we have a big disconnect, and that is why you see a new government starting afresh as though the sector has been non-existent. New administrations should learn to rather than throw away the baby with the bathe water, throw away water and continue bathing the baby.”

On the video tutorial, he said, it was “launched by the former Minister of Education, Mallam Ibrahim Shekarau, which he endorsed as a good learning device for the Nigerian child. But the new minister seems not to have seen anything good in it because the documents are there, else they would have followed up on it because government should be a continuum. Policy reversals and summersaults is the reason we have remained stagnant in this country.

We are educated but uneducated as we cannot solve societal problems with our knowledge.”

Bamgbose explained that initiative came about after the centre came to the realization that poor performance of most Nigerian students was a result of poor teaching and learning methodology.

The video tutorial, comprises of 15 subjects drawn from West African Examination Council (WAEC) and the National Examination Council (NECO) syllabi and does not require Internet connectivity.