The Minister of Education, Prof. Tahir Mamman has said that the days of talking and not working on educational policies were over, stressing the need for the education sector to be rescued.
Mamman was speaking when he received the final submission of the report on the development of a Roadmap in the education sector by the Roadmap Team in Abuja.
Recall that the minister on September 5, set-up an eight-member committee to drive education roadmap in the country.
The committee, was given four weeks timeframe to come up with plans that would help transform the sector as well as define a path to craft a turn around in the fortunes of the country.
Mamman also expressed displeasure over criticism against the ministry for given out certificates that does not produce value.
The Minister, while challenging stakeholders to bring value to their certificates from basic to tertiary levels, promised to set out mechanism for the implementation of the new report.
“I and my colleagues are also unhappy Nigerians and I feel this country has not achieved what she should have achieved in the last 63 years. I am very angry about that.
“Some of us have benefited what was good in this country, now that we have this opportunity I don’t see any reason why we should not achieve what we have yearned and cry out for all these years.So, we want to transfer this anger into something good we have desired these years.
” I want to assure you that we mean business in what has to be done. The days of talking are over, we must work the work.The strategies, guidelines and activities presented in this report will be followed.
“Where we need to abridge, we will do that. In the ministry, we have informed our directors that this is not the time for foot dragging, it is not time to bury policies in the files.
“This is the time to see all policies on ground.We have a lot of young people out there with very great future and are steering at us for solutions and we need to do what is right to bring succour to this country.
“We’ve been criticised in the education sector for giving Nigerians certificates that don’t give value to make our graduates not active well and we will be challenging everybody from basic education to tertiary to bring value to their certificates,” he said.
The Minister added that in no time, a monitoring and evaluation committee would be set up to ensure the ministry get on track in the delivery of the roadmap.
He said the committee would be made to complement the efforts of the directorate to implement the efforts of the ministry.
” The days of talking is over, this is the time to act and do what is right. The report is going to be unveiled so that the whole country will be aware of our plans to take education to its rightful place,” he said.
Mamman also said that the ministry would continue to engage with state governments while noting that President Bola Tinubu have the will and commitment to deliver on the project.
He, therefore, promised that this project would not be like the previous plans but ensure that it does not lie on shelves but rather see to its full implementation.
Earlier, the Chairman of the Committee, Engr. Nuru Yakubu, while presenting the report, said the scope of the project entailed the review of the previous Ministerial Strategics Plan (MSP 2016-2019) and MSP(2018-2022).
Yakubu explained that the committee identified gaps in the previous MSPs while also adopting areas to align the MSPs with the objectives of the present administration and national development.
According to him, the committee adopted the methodology of strategies within a short time to ensure the roadmap is practical, aims at problem solving and realistic.
“We undertook thorough reviews of previous MSPs based on thematic areas, we interacted with all the heads of agencies under the ministry as well as the directors in the ministry and shared a golden template to harmonised the template that would be understood practically and simply.
“We have incorporated the Ministerial Performance Bond to presidential priorities and deliverables 2023-2027 under the appropriate thematic areas with special focus on out-of-school children, girl-child education, Skills and Entreprenuerial Education.
“The roadmap comprises three documents -report of the committee, strategic plan of action and a proposal for early implementation guidelines on the roadmap.
“The Strategic Plan of Action has 13 thematic areas – Out-of-school children, Basic and Senior Secondary Education, Girl-Child Education, Youths and Adult Literacy, Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET), Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Mathematical (STEAM).
“Entrepreneurship Education, Curriculum and Policy Matters, Capacity Building and Professional Development , Teacher Education, Tertiary Education and Students Support Services, Education Data and Planning, ICT Education and Library Services,” he said.
Yakubu therefore expressed hope that the document would make a difference in the education sector with the commitment of the ministers.
The committee comprises of Dr Nuru Yakubu as Chairman while Prof. Ernest Ojukwu, Prof. Sa’ad Umar, Shulamite Paul, Dr Garba Ibrahim, Hajia Hindatu Abdullahi, Prof. Ismail Junaidu and Mr Joseph Achede as members.
