Ø The Chairman of this wonderful occasion.
Ø Honorable Senators.
Ø Honorable Commissions.
Ø Honorable Chairpersons.
Ø His Royal Highness.
Ø Members of the High Table.
Ø Distinguished Ladies and Gentlemen.
Ø Great Nigerian Students.
I feel highly honored to have been given the opportunity to make this presentation. This presentation reflects on the potentialities of education
practices guided by the ideas of sustainability and how they can contribute to the reformulation of the contents and methods of learning and to quality
of education. Sustainability entails the transformation of all aspect of school, from preschool to university.
This presentation also points to some challenges and strategies for integrating sustainability into education practices and into the school
curriculum.
The key challenge is the need for a different and better pedagogy, an Eco-pedagogy, a holistic pedagogy that overcomes the anthropocentric of
classic pedagogs.
Sustainability represents an opportunity for the renewal of old education system founded on competitive principles and values and based on a
predatory view of the world.
According to Nelson Mandela who said, “Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world.” How can this
weapon be used when it is not properly taken care of?
I intend to share with you a thought provoking research on the sustainability of education. First I shall talk about education as a constitutional
right.
A declaration made by virtue of Article 17 of the African Child’s Right Act, also Section 15 of the Child’s Right Act 2003 makes
every Nigerian child entitled to free and compulsory education, in addition to that, section 18, Sub-Section 3 of the 1999 Federal Constitution
states that the government shall strive to eradicate illiteracy; and to do this end, government shall as and when practicable provide free, compulsory
and universal primary education; free secondary education; free university education and; free adult literacy programme.
I want every one of us to agree with me that free and compulsory education should be the birth right of every Nigerian Child.
Ayodeji Morakinyo said, “ If young people are not equipped today with the education, skill and guided exposure necessary for the
accomplishment of tomorrow’s challenges, a better tomorrow will die prematurely in our untrained hands.”
The great Greek philosopher, Plato said, “The direction in which education starts a man will determine his future in life.
Until Education is given a good head start in Nigeria by the pedagogy, education will remain not sustained. And how can we give it a good
head start? It is by providing a good learning environment, proper educational infrastructure, basic and social amenities needed for the propagation of
sustainable education in Nigeria.
Last year, the result released by the West African Examination Council (WAEC) shows that only 31 per cent of the candidates that
wrote the May/June examinations passed the required minimum of credits. This has caused a lot of worry, especially by concern parents and other
stakeholders. Some commentators blamed the recent popularity of social media (like Facebook, Twitter, and Whatsapp etc.) for this massive
failure. The reason given is that many young people now spend more time on these sites than their books or even novels. This is partially true, but
that does not change the fact that our education system has a lot of challenges, thus responsible for the performance of the students and pupils in school.
So if we can attend to such issues holistically with in-depth professionals piloting the affairs of such issues, our educational system will survive for
eons. We can give them reasons to read by providing state of the art facilities, libraries and organizing programmes to enlighten them on the pending
damage of social media and the advantages of reading, we may even go as far as producing suzerain leaders.
Second, I will talk about the state of public schools. In many developed countries, the system of having good public schools has been the main
basis for the excellence of their young people in education. This is because the Government is responsible for the education of at least all children
below the age of 18 years. For example, in the United Kingdom, every child gets basic education, whether the parents can afford it or not, because
the government makes the public schools free.
In Nigeria, the trend of recent is the abandonment of public schools to the focus on the privately-owned or religious-based schools. In the
past, the public schools where the main schools, they were run by the government with good facilities, properly trained teachers and the public higher
institutions even use to give scholarships and bursary allowance ( for feeding, accommodation, etc.) to the students. Of importance in this regard is
‘Baba Awo’ (Chief Obafemi Awolowo) who started the free education in the Western Region. That was when things where good, now, public
schools are in a ‘sorry’ state, with unskilled teachers and dilapidated structures.
Recently, the Edo State Government as well as the Ekiti State Government conducted a test for all the teachers and principals of secondary
schools in their respective states and so many of them failed. The question is, if the teachers and principals cannot pass the examination, can they
transfer effective knowledge to the students to help them perform well academically? There is an urgent need for the government to monitor the
training of the holistic pedagogy closely. The pedagogy is not meant for mediocre or for people who just cannot think of any other career. In fact, the
pedagogy is the most important one, because every other profession will need to pass through teachers.
The works of Adams Oshiomole of Edo State, Fayemi of Ekiti State, Ogbeni Rauf Aragbesola of Osun State and Babatunde Raji
Fashola of Lagos State for the establishment of the new school system in their respective states is highly recommended for all other states in the
Federation.
Also, the Nigerian Government needs to focus on restoring the ‘glory’ of public schools. Some of the public school if not all, lack the basic
amenities that is necessary for a conducive environment for learning, some of them do not even have sufficient chairs for the students to sit on when class
is going on. The condition of public schools has brought the emergence of so many expensive privately-owned schools that more than half the
population of Nigeria cannot afford. This should not be so as quality education should be available to ALL Nigerians.
In summary, this presentation deals with the sustainability of education, the challenges and plausible solutions. I am delighted that this
campaign is taking place giving students the opportunity to know that their future is safe and our education system will soon achieve sustenance as we
remain optimistic. Let me leave us with an extract taken from the World Summit on sustainable education in 2002, “When education is sustained,
it is an investment in our future… each respective country should ensure that appropriate resources are made available for its development”.
Thank you very much indeed for the undivided attention. Good Afternoon.
Idris Muhammad Awwal
07065964395
Idrismuhammadawwal530@gmail.com
Lagos State University, Ojo
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