NUT MUST LEAD TEACHERS IN ACTION TO SAVE EDUCATION NOW

Comrade Aj. Dagga Tolar (in personal capacity) in a chat with Socialist Democracy

SD: HOW HAS EDUCATION FARED UNDER BUHARI?

Dagga: Education is in a terrible state, the facts on the ground indicate nothing else but a disaster, with a population of 200 million, and we have the highest number of 13.2 million children out of school, compared to China and India with above 1.4 and 1.3 billion people respectively. The 2019 federal budget with a figure of N462.24 billion a mere 5.23% allotted to education, is the worst ever in the past nine years. The funding of education by state governments is not better. The massive neglect by the state through the act of conscious underfunding should be seen as a crime against humanity

The effect of which is inadequate and derelict infrastructures, massive dearth of teachers in our schools, with those available overworked and incapable of sufficiently attending to pupils. Lagos which used to be the pride of public education today currently has the highest numbers of private primary and secondary schools in the country, even more than its own public schools. This is the same state which under Lateef Jakande between 1979 and 1983 commenced a programme that ensured that every child in the state was educated and even took over then all private schools and just 40 years after everything is in reverse. Education has been transformed into a commodity and cow for milking cash by the private proprietors, many of whom do not care any hoot about standards. This explains the collapse of the Ohen Private Nursery and Primary School, where 18 people were reported dead in Ita-Faaji, in Lagos.

We need not mention that the universities are not any less worse off, ASUU had a strike that lasted over fourteen weeks. Since 1992, ASUU has embarked on 21 different strikes, a total of 1278 days, a period of three and half years, largely on the same issues of inadequate funding of tertiary institutions. So under Buhari and current state governors the decadence in education has become deeper.

WHY IS THIS SO?

Dagga: The fault is largely that of the thieving ruling elites both past and present, the military years of locust, the PDP and now the APC, they all subscribe to neoliberal capitalism which in reality translates to mean that government should have nothing to do with the needs of the people. For these needs are means for making money and profit for some few individuals to the detriment of the whole country. The working class people and students have to continuously fight for adequate funding of quality public education at all levels. But ultimately workers must organize to end capitalism and enthrone a democratic socialist society wherein the wealth of the country can be used to meet the people’s need of education, health, housing, food, electricity etc as oppose to the profit and greed of a few individuals.

WHAT DO YOU THNK CAN BE DONE IN THE IMMEDIATE?

Dagga: NUT must rise up from slumber, and the nostalgia of its last struggle for a Teacher Salary Scale to take up the cry of all of the issues in education. The NUT must defend public funded education as a right for every child in the country. And as such like ASUU be ready to educate its members and the general public as to the true state of things. It is necessary for the President of the NUT, Dr. Mohammed Nasir Idris, to lead union to provide leadership in this direction. The union must carry out necessary research on the needs assessment of public education, mobilize teachers and working masses in struggle to table demands on both state and federal governments for adequate funding of education, provision of necessary facilities for quality education (adequate furnished classrooms, well equipped laboratories, well stocked libraries, decent staff rooms, playing grounds, etc) and employment of a minimum of 150, 000 quality teachers across the country as a first step. The right of teachers in private school to join the union as a means of ending the slavery wages and exploitation of teachers must also be fought for. To ensure judicious use of allocations and efficient running, schools must be placed under the democratic management of elected representatives of teachers, students, parent, host community and government representatives.

A programme like the above must be worked out by NUT around which it will seek solidarity support of parents, students, NLC, TUC, ULC, ASUU and other education workers unions, industrial unions and civil society organisations for a series of activities including day of action to put pressure on the state and federal government to adequately fund public education to make it quality, functional and accessible.