By Agboola Bayo
Ibadan
The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) has lashed out at the South-west governors over the dismal performance of candidates in the last West African Examinations Senior School Certificate Examinations (WASCE), in which zone is ranked low.
Head, Department of Teacher Education, University of Ibadan and Coordinator, Ibadan Zone of Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) Professor Segun Ajiboye, who was featuring on a radio programme “Talking Point” tasked the governors to refocus their education policies towards qualitative education delivery.
Ajiboye said it was unfortunate that the SW governors, rather than equipping schools and refocusing on curriculum and motivate teachers, were busy re-classifying schools knowing well that the exercise could give quality education.
“You expect teachers not being paid to teach children happily. Schools are seriously dilapidated with some overtaken by lizards. Some governors have created confusion through re-classification and did a lot of harm merging schools.
“Education is not about changing nomenclature, but mere political gimmickry. Even the performance would have been more terrible were the number of students from private schools not added, “he said.
The ASUU leader declared that the time has come for the SW governors to revive neighborhood libraries for students to have access to books they could afford to buy, saying this would candidates in examinations.
He disclosed that the dismal results could not be divorced from the stressing that with increased enrolment of pupils, there was no equal improvement in learning environment and enough teachers in most schools.
“The WAEC results should not be a surprise, but a fall-out of failure of governance in education. Our governors must stop embarking on ambitious projects like erecting flyovers on major highways instead of developing the future through qualitative education”.
