News
Declare Emergency In Education Sector Now, Clark Tells Buhari
The former Federal Commissioner for Information and South-South Leader, Chief Edwin Clark, has called on President Muhammadu Buhari, to as a matter of urgency, declare a state of emergency in the education sector.
According to Clark, who was commissioner for education, Midwestern Region (1968-71), it has become very imperative for the Federal Government to declare the state of emergency to save the education sector from total collapse, adding that as a teacher, and former headmaster in local authority schools, he was today sad that the standard of education was falling, and if not checked, would further deteriorate.
Speaking to newsmen, yesterday, at his Asokoro residence, Abuja on the second graduating set of students of his Edwin Clark University, Kiagbodo, Delta State, the elder statesman called on the Federal Government to reorder its priorities by spending less on administration and focus more on education.
On his university, Clark, who noted that the university has come to stay, said that he was fulfilled that the school, which was given provisional licence to operate in 2015, full accreditation by the National Universities Commission (NUC) in 2019, with 23 programmes, graduated the second set of students in the 2019/2020 academic year, adding that out of the 147 graduating students this year, 16 got first class, 73 with second class upper, 50 with second class lower, and eight with third class.
He said, “The university has come to stay, whether Clark is alive or Clark is dead, Edwin Clark University will continue.”
The elder statesman, however, attributed the present security challenges in the country with continued cases of armed banditry, kidnapping, rape, insurgency, among others, across the country, to lack of proper attention to the education sector.
Clark, who called on the government to give loan facilities and bursary to students as obtained in the United Kingdom, United States of America, among others, in order to facilitate their education as well as help the poor, however, urged the government to place emphasis on training of teachers and lecturers.
The South-South leader noted that education was key to development, and stressed the urgent need for the federal and state governments to see the girl-child education as a major priority, which must be encouraged through the award of scholarships as was done during the Midwestern region, thereby leading to mass education of women against the backdrop that educating a girl, the nation at large has been educated.
It would be recalled that the Minister of Education, Malam Adamu Adamu, when he received Niger State Governor, Abubakar Sani-Bello, had said that the Federal Government would declare a state of emergency in the education sector in April.
He had said, “By the end of April, we are proposing there will be a declaration of a state of emergency in the education sector all over the country.”
Clark, who noted that the declaration of state of emergency must be now, said, “Education matters a lot, education has fallen because the government is not spending enough money on education. In our universities, for a whole year, it is ASUU versus the Federal Government always, and if ASUU is not fighting, the non-academic staff will take up their own.
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