AFTA Harps on PPP in Education Sector
To strike the balance between teachers and students for positive academic performance, Arc Light Foundation Teachers Academy (AFTededitedA) has advocated for Private Public Partnership (PPP) to raise competent teachers who will rescue the Nigerian students from academic failure.
While addressing the journalists at the inaugural ceremony of AFTA recently in Lagos themed ‘Teaching For Transformation’, The Chief Executive Officer, Mrs. Abimbola Obasanya, noted that the struggle for academic excellence cannot be accomplished by the government alone but with effort of privatepublic partnership, a height can be attained.
“We are contributing our quota in nation building, we are not waiting for the government because we feel empowerment in education is very important in Nigeria. I saw things were falling apart but I also saw solutions; I see Nigerian students being the best in the whole world and we are getting there. I believe in private-public partnership. We cannot leave everything to the government but we should learn to influence our sectors by sharing the little we have and know,” she said.
Abimbola said that for the students to excel in their academics, the journey must begin from the teachers’ devotion and competency to impact, which AFTA is supporting in the transformation of the teachers education.
She said: “transforming the teachers education in Nigeria is also very important because training of the teachers will definitely reflect on the students. In colleges we have a lot of teachers that are out of the classroom which is not proper. So what we are doing is to feel the gaps by engaging the teachers by teaching them on how to be the best.”
She urged that the government should allow more private-public participation to promote collaboration. According to her, AFTA will like to take up some schools, private and government for training, confirming that there are a lot of schools with good facilities.
Similarly, the Chief Executive Officer, Incubator Africa, Mrs. Alero Ayida-Otobo explained that the education sector has been facing challenges because the government does not understand the importance of education, resulting to a low budget allocation, which is why the sector is still crawling.
“If we want to transform the educational system of any nation, focus and quality of the teachers are needed. We have all the resources to turn things around In Nigeria but to dedicate the resources to education is the problem. The government is yet to understand that focusing on education is critical, education has not been given enough budget.” She concluded that “it takes partnership between the government and the private sector to solve the problems in education.”
The Lagos State Director General, Office of Education Quality Assurance, Mrs. Ronke Soyombo, who was a guest speaker at the event, revealed that students fail because there is no synergy between curriculum and the examination, consequently, resulting to mass failure.
Soyombo said education has gone far from acquiring knowledge but also to help the student to acquire skills to be creative and innovative which the Lagos State Government is working tirelessly on.