APC’s Common-sense Solution to Quality Free Education. #GMB15 Guaranteeing Quality Free Education The Challenge Nigeria’s education system is a scandal. There are now 10 million school age children out of school. Of those actually receiving an education half leave primary school still unable to read and write. Such students generally do not make it to secondary school. Even worse, too many of our girls are denied access to even these most basic levels of education. The objective of our education plan is to first eradicate illiteracy and simultaneously develop a skilled and talented workforce that can get Nigeria back to work, produce quality goods and services, employ the larger population and thus reduce unemployment drastically. With just 8.6% of government spending dedicated to education, Nigeria is still falling further behind our competitors. Millions of our youth are being consigned to a life of unemployment and poverty. Without an effective universal school system, that provides relevant education and equips our youth for the challenges of the global economy, Nigeria will never reach its full potential. We must ensure that we provide quality education in our schools in order to prepare our youth for the competitive knowledge economy of the 21st century. The Opportunity Nigeria urgently needs to expand access to education and raise the standards of teaching, so that our young people enter the workforce equipped for the challenges of this ever-globalising world. The APC will seek to increase the proportion of students moving from primary to secondary education and then into the tertiary and university sectors. The APC’s Common-sense Solutions We will: Triple education spending over next 10 years, from the current 8.5% to 24.5%. Commit to the eventual eradication of illiteracy by guaranteeing and enforcing nine (9) years of compulsory basic education to every Nigerian child, as the minimum level of formal education. This commitment includes, Tsangaya, Nomadic and other special education. Reinvigorate technical and vocational education nationwide by giving adequate material support to schools. This implies the review of the 9-3-4 system. Introduce a National core curriculum for all public schools, setting out the minimum standards. Prioritize the improvement in quality and quantity of teachers and healthcare professionals with improved infrastructural facilities, enhanced working environment, better conditions of service and merit-based reward systems in recognition of their foundational and critical nation building responsibilities. Primary Education Introduce free daily school meals for all primary school children Decentralize management of primary schools to parents and communities. Secondary Schools Undertake a major national programme of secondary school construction and repair funded through Public Private Partnerships. Tax incentives will be provided to businesses who participate in this programme. Phase-in a free school meals programme after it has been established in primary schools. Raise the transition rate from primary to secondary schools to at least 75% by 2019 Restore teaching of Nigerian languages in secondary schools Establish six centres of excellence to address the needs of special education Phase-in the provision of communal internet-ready desktops at all secondary schools in the nation by 2019. Tertiary Launch a programme for the redevelopment of teacher training colleges. Establish no less than 2 Local Technology Institutes (LTIs) in every state in the nation. Ensure the full optimization of the capacity of existing technical, vocational centres and tertiary institutions, and expand where necessary or establish new ones. Focus the new (LTIs) on providing free training courses to our youth and unemployed in the basic skills necessary to sign up to the infrastructure public works programmes that we are proposing. Establish a standing committee of pertinent government ministries and agencies and representatives of the private sector in order to shape educational curricula to our needs and realities of the global economy. Embark on vocational training, entrepreneurial and skills acquisition schemes for graduates along with the creation of a Small Business Loans Guarantee Scheme to create at least 1 million new jobs every year, for the foreseeable future. Ensure a greater proportion of expenditure on university education is devoted to Science and Technology with more spaces allocated to science and technology-oriented courses. Emphasize and encourage closer relationship between town and gown. Universities to relate with local industries and focus research on advancing and promoting local
Posted on: Sun, 21 Dec 2014 13:29:58 +0000
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