The Many Challenges Facing Lagos Educational System – Lagos NUT Boss, Segun Raheem

As Governor Akinwunmi Ambode settles for work as governor of Lagos State, the state chairman of the Nigerian Union of Teachers, Comrade Segun Raheem, lists the many challenges facing education in the state and in Nigeria.

State chairman of the Nigerian Union of Teachers, Comrade Segun Raheem

Speaking with a Naij.com correspondent, Lucky Vincent, the Chairman lamented the proliferation of private schools in the country and suggests solutions to the current standard of education in the country.

Q: How would you rate the standard of education in Lagos State, especially with the immediate past government of Babatunde Fashola?

In the last eight years, the system of education has improved from where it was before the advent of the administration of Governor Babatunde Raji Fashola. At least, there was tremendous improvement from what it used to be in the past before the end of the administration. New structures were put in place.

Aside from that, policies were initiated in the area of quality control and assurance and improvement of welfare packages for teachers in the area of car loans, housing and things like that, and consistency of maintaining free education and capacity building for teachers generally has improved tremendously.

The introduction of EKO Project and injecting a lot of fund to the schools’ directors and managers to be able to manage what they actually need is commendable. Meeting their needs at the point of call has tremendously geared up the standard of education in Lagos State.

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Q: How about the challenges facing education in the state?

There are so many challenges; there is no perfect situation. For instance, teachers are not enough. In the last 13 years, teachers are not enough in primary schools, the replacements that are made in secondary schools are wrong replacements, a mathematics teacher would retire and an economics teachers would be made to replace him and so teachers in secondary schools are not well distributed according to the needs in those schools and towards the tail end of the administration, there was no appointment at all in secondary schools.

Apart from that, the imprest for the school administrators were not enough and that administration scrapped a lot of welfare packages that had been on by the preceding administration like  inducement for teachers, duty post allowance for heads of schools, sports allowances as well as science and mathematics allowances. All these allowances were scrapped by that administration and the 27.5% allowances that were approved for payment as specific allowances for teachers were cancelled and even the 11.5% that was approved was paid at the tail end of that administration.

Tutor-General and the Permanent Secretary of the state Ministry of Education were supposed to be appointed amongst the principals by law, but we have some of them, who were not serving principals, these are challenges too.

Q: What agenda would you want to set for Governor Akinwunmi Ambode now?

There are so many things we would want him to put in place. I keep on saying it; the National Economic Summit that was done in Abuja came out to say that for the economy of this country to grow, Nigeria must invest in teachers and since that paper came out, the last administration at the federal level has not done anything about it.

So, the first challenge for this government is that if the Federal Government is not doing it and we call Lagos State the Centre of Excellence, it behoves on the present government in the state to kick-start it.

One of the ways to do this is to re-open the Teachers Salary Scale, in the medical sector, they have their own salary scale for all medical staff, not only for doctors, even cleaners in the medical line. 

 

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