The Joint Education Stakeholders’ Action Coalition (JESAC), a coalition of all stakeholders in education in Nigeria, has declared that to talk of a state of emergency in the nation’s education sector is an understatement. Rather, participants at the opening of a three-day National Consultative Conference which opened in Abuja Wednesday October 27 agreed, the system is on the brink of imminent collapse requiring urgent attention.

That was why the conference was convened by about 14 associations and groups who all share the stakes and accept their collective share in culpability, as according to them, “it is time to speak in one voice with our votes.” The themes of the interactive are “Education stakeholders in the service of free, fair and credible elections: understanding your role” and “Political leadership for transformational education.”

Participants who were drawn from Nigeria Union of Teachers (NUT), Association of Primary School Head Teachers of Nigerian (AOPSHON), All Nigerian Confederation of Principals of Secondary Schools (ANCOPSS), Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities (SSANU), Non-academic Staff of Educational and Associated Institutions (NASU), Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), Academic Staff Union of Polytechnics (ASUP), Colleges of Education Academic Staff Union (COEASU), National Parent/Teachers’ Association of Nigeria (NAPTAN), Senior Staff Union of Colleges of Education (SSUCOEN), Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Polytechnics (SSANIP), Conference of Alumni Associations of Tertiary Institutions in Nigeria (CAATIN), Conference of Old Boys and Old Girls Associations, Conference of Proprietors of Private Schools, Conference of Exam Ethics Marshals of Nigeria (CEEMAN), National Parents’ Association of Federal Unity Schools (NAPAFUSS) and the co-coordinating organization, Exam Ethics International,   declared that “no country can transcend the quality of its teachers or its educational system.” 

They took their turns at the opening Technical Session, to reveal some mind-boggling highlights of the sorry state of education in Nigeria: 300, 000 classrooms short of current requirements, 50, 000 libraries more needed, but not available; 90 per cent of educational institutions in the country now undertake what is called “Alternative to Practicals” as they have no laboratories nor science equipment, while 95 per cent of these schools lack basic illustrative charts such as graphs and drawings. Failure rate they said has risen to 98 per cent, while examination malpractice in the country rates highest in the whole wide world, what with the now notoriously popular “Solution/Miracle Centres where exam malpractice has been institutionalized. Cultism they noted is no longer limited to tertiary institutions but now has permeated through to even Primary Schools, such that if you run such institutions you need to thoroughly screen the kind of NYSC members posted to you!

The sessions were intended to jointly find solutions to the many problems for which participants agreed that we are all guilty as charged:  governments, school authorities, the parents and general public, etc… All categories of stakeholders were involved.

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