The Unity School Old Students Association (USOSA) has reiterated its commitment to work with stakeholders to advance public secondary education in the country.
The President-General of the association, Mr Michael Magaji, disclosed this at a news conference in Abuja on Saturday, ahead of its National Education Summit billed for July 20.
Magaji said that the summit would bring about a policy redirection towards developing the entire education sector of the country.
“We are going to design a roadmap and work plan that will chat a way for stakeholders to address the numerous challenges facing the sector.
”We as alumni of unity schools have come together to advance the course of public education at the basic and secondary levels.
” We believe that in the public education today, quality has declined for many reasons- poor funding, lack of infrastructure, high enrollment without commensurate capacity in terms of teaching and infrastructural decay.
”So what we want to do as an association is to help in reversing this decline to promote and advocate public education where tax payers money can be effectively used for the good of everyone particularly the education sector.
”So at USOSA, we are in the solution mood around education to do something about it. We will continue to partner with the owners of the schools -federal government to see how we can improve quality and introduce digital innovation,” he said.
Magaji described education as the responsibilities of all and should therefore not be left in the hands of the Federal Government alone.
”The education summit is targeted at bringing stakeholders together to design a road map that can address the challenges in the sector.
” In education, two key elements are important which are access and quality. So we are going to be working with the government on how to support them to improve access to infrastructure and infuse digital technology into learning experiences,” he added.
He, therefore, said that promoting the teaching of the curriculum in Nigerian languages would be the focus of the summit.
When asked about the proposed 12 years as minimum admission age for entry into JSS 1 of the unity colleges, Magaji said age should not be a barrier if the candidates could demonstrate an aptitude and behaviour that would enable him lead in the community of learners.
The president-general said that the association would be working with the Federal Ministry of Education to proffer strategies in transforming the sector in the next few years.
While acknowledging the efforts of some Nigerians in their inputs towards public and private services of education, Magaji said that awards would be given to them to provide inspirational model for others to follow.
(NAN)
