WORRIED by the state of education in the country, the Director General of the Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE), Mr. Benjamin Ezra Dikki has called for the urgent reform of education in Nigeria to ensure enforcement of standards at the primary and secondary levels.
Dikki noted that though there are regulatory institutions for tertiary education like the Nigerian Universities Commission (NUC) and the National Board for Technical Education (NBTE) among others to ensure the enforcement of standards, this was lacking at the primary and secondary levels.
Receiving a team from the World Bank, led by Guillemette Jaffrin that paid a courtesy call on him on Wednesday, December 9, 2015, the DG said the lack of regulation at these levels has resulted in falling standards at the foundation level of education in the country.
He attributed the incidence of crime and other anti-social behaviors plaguing the country to the falling standards of education at the primary secondary levels.” It is disheartening that students finish secondary schools and cannot read or write properly.”
Dikki said the Bureau is hamstrung to undertake reforms initiatives at the primary and secondary level because of constitutional provisions.
”What at present obtains is that the Federal Government controls only the tertiary institutions in the country while the States and Local Government Areas control secondary and primary education. And until we bring the primary and secondary levels under a regulatory regime that enforces uniform standards across the nation, the decline in standards will continue. Schools that do not meet the standards and waste the formative years of our youth should be closed.”