Who doesn’t know that education is the bedrock of national development? It is educated people with immense skills that harness and utilize material resources for the development of their countries.
Without the benefits of education, our world couldn’t have reached its current level of economic and technological advancement.
Today, our world has become a global village owing to the giant strides, which scientists recorded in the area of science and technology. Today, people who come from diverse racial backgrounds confabulate on face book; natural disasters that happened on a continent that is not ours are beamed on our television screens. That’s why developed countries of the world do not pay lip service to issues concerning education in their countries.
Not being unaware of the benefits of equipping the youths with qualitative education, Governor Peter Obi of Anambra State has taken measures to revamp the comatose educational system in the State. Even his worst traducers and political opponents acknowledge that he has recorded giant strides in the area of resuscitating the collapsed educational system in the State. So, not surprisingly, he has been receiving laudatory commendations from diverse organizations within and outside Nigeria.
Governor Peter Obi has returned schools to their original owners-the church. This is to ensure that the schools are efficiently run and against the background of the erosion of moral values in our society, schools run by churches can instill moral values into our youths. Perhaps, this is one of the reasons that informed Governor Peter Obi’s returning of schools to the church.
More so, good learning environment can facilitate the students’ acquisition of knowledge. So, he has built class room blocks for schools whose school buildings were decrepit. Not only has he built class room blocks for them, he, also, has given money and buses to many post-primary schools in the State for the smooth-running of the schools.
And, who doesn’t know that one’s knowledge of computer science can put one at the cutting edge of the information technology? Those who are computer savvy have an edge on those who do not have computer knowledge as to securing employments. Now, many official duties in offices are performed with the help of the computer. We are in the internet and digital age.
So, in order to ensure that the products of post-primary schools in Anambra State are not left behind in our digital age, Governor Peter Obi has been distributing computers to post-primary schools that are scattered in the State. Some days ago, he issued a cheque of N2.65 billion to some company for the procurement of twenty five thousand computers and internet connectivity for schools.
But, private schools in the state are being discriminated against in the distribution of computers. It is instructive to note that a great number of Anambra children attend schools that are privately owned as most parents have misgivings about the ability of teachers in public schools to offer qualitative teaching or education to their children. What is sauce for the goose is sauce for the gender as regarding the distribution of computers.
But, are the recipients of the computers putting them to good use? Most of the post-primary schools that received computers from the state government do not have electricity with which to power the computers. In some schools that have electricity, the students seldom practice how to operate the computer owing to the power problem that has bedeviled Nigeria. So, the students make do with the theoretical knowledge they receive from their computer science teachers.
Again, many schools do not have accommodation or space for the installation of the computers. So, in order to guarantee their safety, and protect them from being damaged, some school principals have taken those computers to their homes. Other school principals keep their schools’ computers in the palaces of monarchs in whose towns the schools are located. These actions are inimical to the academic progress of the students.
The state government should take urgent steps to address this issue of under-utilization of computers in post-primary schools in the state.
I suggest that the Governor set up a committee that will be saddled with the responsibility of visiting schools to ensure that the computers given to them are being put to use for the educational benefits of the students.
The government sole aim for giving computers to schools is defeated if the students cannot get hands-on-training (practical) on how to use a computer.
A stitch in time saves nine
Okoye wrote in from Uruowulu-Obosi,Anambra State.
