*Photo: Oba Akinola Oyetade Akinrera Latiri 1, the Olubosin of Ifetedo, speaking at the summit *
The Ifetedo Education Summit (IES) has called for a massive orientation programme to be mounted to reconstruct the minds of the youth from lovers of material wealth to lovers of knowledge and constructive thinking.
IES made the call in a communique issued at the end of the Summit with the theme Education Decadence: Causes, Effects and Remedies held on Wednesday August 31, 2022.
“The form of sensitisation via the summit should not be once-a-lifetime event and efforts should gear towards improving all forms of educational
facilities in the community,” IES said in the communique.
Read the full text below:
IFETEDO EDUCATION SUMMIT (IES) 2022
Communiqué
Preamble
The Ifetedo Education Summit (IES) was held on Wednesday August 31, 2022 at the initiative of Kabiyesi Oba Akinola Oyetade Akinrera Latiri 1, the Olubosin of Ifetedo.
His initiative blossom on Feb 26, 2022 when he personally inaugurated the Ifetedo Development Council (IDC). This was with the sole aim of stimulating the development of Ifetedo through communal efforts in collaboration with government and NGO as well as CBOs. The inauguration was followed by the constitutions of sub – committees among such were, Education, Agriculture, Health, Youth orientation,
Internal and External Relations, Cultural among others.
Following the marching order given by the Olubosin to the committees to go into action, the education committee under the chairmanship of Professor Rashid Aderinoye set the tone bearing in mind that, this committee is the foundation the touch bearer and the vehicle in which development can manifest. This is more so that the standard of education as it is at the national level. It has also fallen in the Ifetedo Kingdom.
A strategy of bringing back the past glory is to create a forum through which people from different work of life will come and advise on the way forward. It is for this reason that this Education summit with the theme Education Decadence: Causes, Effects and Remedies was conveyed. After a comprehensive review of causes, effects and remedies to education decadence, the following were the observations, recommendations and resolutions
OBSERVATIONS
1. The chairman of the occasion Professor Is-haq Olanrewaju Oloyede observed that, in spite of the fact that the first revelation to Prophet Muhammed SAW was “Read in the name of your Lord” Qur’an 96:1, people today, governments,
parents, children, youth and adults have not been paying adequate attention to education. Thus, despite the fact that Federal and State governments continued to improve access to education through the implementation of the various schemes, including Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC), State Universal Basic Education Boards, establishment of Technical and Vocational education opportunities, establishment of more tertiary institutions and the Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFUND) and others.
2. The ignoble culture of examination malpractices which has made students not to
be serious continue to erode public confidence in some of the internal and external examinations activities in Nigeria
3. Misplacement of priorities by parents and guardians has caused incalculable damage to the education pursuits of children and wards. These include parents’ diversion of interest and resources from the proper development of children to social issues of funeral ceremonies, excessive deployment of resources to marriage and naming ceremonies at the expense of the education of their children.
4. The culture of reading which used to be common practices in our education institutions has given way to culture of social media both by parents and children. The use of social media has apparently caused significant lot of distractions for many students, and it is now a common occurrence that children watch immoral and unproductive films with their parents.
5. Disengagement of religious bodies in the administration and management of education
6. Continue poor attitude of teachers to effective teaching and learning unlike what used to be the practice in the past and in fact the current moral booster as included in the Federal Government increase in salary and welfare, as well as extension of retirement age to 65 years has not brought about change in the negative attitude of teachers
7. The pupils/as well as students placement of interest on material wealth like indulging in internet fraud, yahooyahoo, kidnaping rather than attainment of better educational achievement continue to diminish the great value attached to education
8. The lack of discipline in school nowadays as parents sometimes stormed school premises to attack teachers who discipline students for wrong doings in schools.
9. The Osun State University Campus of Law located in the town has not been given enough positive attention in the areas of development and local students’ admission enrolment. It was also observed that the community should seize the opportunity of the new Faculty of Liberal Studies to show more interest in full community participation in development.
10. Existing curriculum needs significant review to meet the needs of learners (pupils and students) in skills that will make them future asset of the nation.
11. Inadequate teaching of entrepreneurial skills and acquisition among students at all level of education. This is associated with increasing rate of unemployment of youths in the country.
12. That record of JAMB showed that the Ife South Local Government Area the last few years had an average of 1000 students sit for UTME (1028 in 2019, 1017 in 2020) out of which 369, 323 and 210 were admitted to Universities in 2019, 2020 and 2021, respectively.
13. That the presence of more than ten Traditional Rulers from Ipetumodu, Oke-Ila, Iloko-Ijesa, Ara, Apomu, among others, Professors from Osun State University, University of Ibadan, Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, University of
Abuja, University of Agriculture Abeokuta, Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Industrialists, proprietors of private secondary and primary schools, as well as pupils and students led credence to the importance attached to the summit.
Recommendations
Based on the Observations made, the Summit recommended the following for effective implementation:
1. Governments, at all levels, must attach importance to education by way of increasing investment in education from basic to tertiary level.
2. Governments, parents, teachers, students as well as other stakeholders in education must ensure drastic reduction in cases of examination malpractices.
3. Parents and guardians should henceforth place priority on the education of their children and wards rather than social issues that will not help the positive development of the children and the nation
4. Teachers, as well school communities, should endeavour to change their negative attitude to the educational upbringing of students meaning that more attention should be paid to teaching and learning rather than one leg in and one leg out.
5. Efforts must be made to return discipline to school communities with full support of parents and guardians.
6. The local communities around the Osun State University Campus of Law and Liberal Studies should create more interest in the development of the Campus and encourage their children to aim towards becoming students in the Campus.
7. Government should ensure the review of curriculum so that essential needs and skills that will help students for future development be included, and can be appropriately implemented rather than continue implementation of old and
irrelevant curriculum.
8. Students from the Ifetedo community should be encouraged to show more commitments to their studies so as to record excellent performances in promotion and placement (JAMB) examinations
9. It is high time reading corners and libraries in
schools and communities should be restored with a view of restoring reading culture among the people and students .in our educational institutions and communities.
10. A massive orientation programme be mounted to reconstruct the minds of our youth from lover of material wealth to lover of knowledge and constructive thinking. The form of sensitisation via the summit should not be once-a-lifetime event and efforts should gear towards improving all forms of educational
facilities in the community.
11. We should work to foster capacity building in youths to shift attention and mind- set away from frivolous, lawlessness and destructive tendecies and build employee, self – sufficient, and strong willed youths.
12. Teachers should see the recent government gesture in both enhance salary and extension of retirement age to 65 to be more committed to active teaching and learning in our various schools.
RESOLUTION.
The Summit resolved that for education to bring back the past glory of the Ifetedo Kingdom in particular and Nigeria in general, governments, teachers, parents as well as students must be ready to change the current negative attitude to the education system because as quality and functional education for all is the responsibility of all.
APPRECIATION
The organisers of the Ifetedo Education Summit express gratitude to our Royal fathers, intellectuals, business mogul, parents and students as well as media practitioners that graced the summit.
Thank you.
Chairman, Communiqué Committee
Dr. Tunde Ogundoju