The Director, Center for Child and Adolescent Mental Health, University of Ibadan, Prof Olayinka Omigbodun, has declared that the North East geo-political zone has the lowest school enrolment in the country.
According to Omigbodun, Nigeria has suffered a lot of fluctuations in her path towards achieving universal primary education.
She noted that the Boko Haram insurgency disrupted the upward trend in school enrolment in the North Eastern states from 60 percent in 1995 to 54 percent in 2013.
Omigbodun disclosed this during the commemoration of the 2017 Day of the African Child while speaking on the theme, “The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development for Children in Africa: Accelerating Protection, Empowerment and Equal Opportunities for Children in Africa by 2030”, held at the College of Medicine, University College Hospital, Ibadan.
She said, “The midpoint assessment revealed an upward trend in school enrolment, but this trend was disrupted by the Boko Haram insurgency. There was a drop in net enrolment from 60 per cent in 1995 to 54 per cent in 2013, again, with North East Nigeria having the lowest school enrolment.
“I cannot over-emphasise the fact that education is a mental healthpromoting intervention and this is directly linked to each country’s wealth. The future of sub-Saharan Africa will be determined by the mental health of the children in each nation.”
Omigbodun, however, enjoined African leaders to invest more in quality child education, as investments in children’s mental health today would serve as a key foundation for Human Capital Development for the future.
She further advised that each member-nation in sub-Saharan Africa needed to align with the recent Sustainable Development Goals target and goals for rapid growth by ensuring inclusive and equitable quality education and promotion of life learning opportunities for all.
In a related development, the Nigerian Union of Teachers has endorsed the move by the Federal Government to sack all those still teaching in Nigerian public schools without professional certificates by 2018.
NUT President, Michael Olukoya, who was speaking on the efforts by the Teachers Registration Council of Nigeria, noted that the professionalism drive of the TRCN was a right step in the right direction.
Olukoya argued that the TRCN efforts would afford teachers the opportunity to charge professional fees and correct the wrong conception about the profession.
The NUT president stated this while participating at a workshop organised by the TRCN on Trainingthe- Trainers on the implementation of professional standards among Nigerian teachers.
While giving kudos to the Muhammadu Buhari-led administration, the Minister of Education, Mallam Adamu Adamu and the TRCN boss, Professor Segun Ajiboye, on the policy and drive to rid the teaching profession of quackery, Olukoya noted that those not professionally qualified must be shown the way out.
The NUT president noted that allowing quack teachers to teach Nigerian children was a great disservice to the future of Nigeria, adding that professionalism remained the only way to enhance standards.
TRCN Registrar/Chief Executive, Ajiboye, hinted that the implementation of the policy to throw out teachers not professionally qualified out of the classroom would begin in 2018.
He warned teachers yet to acquire professional certificates to seize the opportunity to write professional examination in October 2017.
Ajiboye added that it was important to remove ‘cheaters’ from ‘teachers,’ saying those teaching in public and private schools must be professionally registered as teachers.
The TRCN boss added that the Ministry of Education was working very hard to ensure that teachers’ welfare was improved within the life span of the current administration.
