An educationist, Mrs. Oluwakemi Waniko, has advised the Federal Government to increase the annual budgetary allocation to the education sector to improve the standard of education in the country.
Waniko gave the advice during the second edition of the Scholars Quiz Primary Spelling Competition in Ota, Ogun State.
According to her, the six per cent allocated to the sector in 2017 and the proposed seven per cent in 2018 are not sufficient to boost the nation’s education sector.
“The Federal Government needs to do more in the area of allocating additional funds to the Ministry of Education so that a sustainable goal could be achieved in the sector. No nation can develop without massive investment in education, because an educated nation is a developed nation,” she said.
Waniko, who was the organiser of the competition, also appealed to stakeholders and corporate organisations to support laudable programmes that could boost development in the sector.
According to her, the Federal Government does not have the capacity to fund the education sector alone.
She, therefore, urged corporate organisations to assist in ensuring the attainment of sustainable development in the sector.
According to her, the objective of the competition is to improve the spelling skills, vocabulary, learning concepts of children as well as create academic and social interaction among pupils in different schools.
Waniko explained that the competition was developed out of the desire to eradicate poor spelling among pupils.
“It is pertinent that we take seriously the effect of incorrect spellings and wrong usage in order to reduce the high rate of failure in our examinations in the country,” she added.
Waniko also underscored the need for more academic competitions to boost children’s performance in school.
“We want to see how we can help our children at this tender age to develop their spelling skills so as to improve the standard of education in the country,’’ she said.
A total of 30 primary schools took part in the competition with Bells Nursery and Primary School, Ota, emerging the overall winner.
Kingdom Way Schools, Ota, and Emmanuel Children School, Ota, came second and third, respectively.
The overall winner, Miss Odunjo Toluwanimi, received a trophy, a plaque, N15, 000 cash and products from the sponsors, while the first and second runners up got a plaque, N10, 000 and N5, 000, respectively.
Toluwanimi commended the organisers for creating a platform for pupils to improve their spelling skills.
