Sir,
Your Excellency, you can recall that on your phenomenal inaugural speech, you declared a state of emergency on Education. Just like you, every Governor desires to be an education governor. Hopefully, this is the year to finally make good on that promise. It is commendable that the education sector has received desired attention in your one year in office as a governor.
Within this period, remarkable successes have been witnessed in the education sector. While you are not resting on your laurel, I wish to draw your attention to an increasingly diverse student population in the state’s public school system.
Your Excellency, is our states public school system future-ready? A good starting point is to ask three questions putting into cognizance the desired objectives of our states educational system how successful has our educational system achieved the following:
- Prepare all students for Tertiary Institutions, careers, and civic life?
- Equipped with entrepreneurial skills? And;
- Can we compete globally, how innovative?
Your Excellency, after carefully answering the above questions which I am sure is NO, which indicates this is the time to chart a different education path for our state Primary and Secondary schools. We will all agree that there is an urgent need for reformation in our education sector. The revolution in Technology has pushed other countries to equip their younger ones to be future-ready.
Sir, Entrepreneur is one-word making headlines in today’s world’s competitive marketplace. The government has put on many empowerment programs aiming to empower our teeming youths and lift thousands out of poverty but I can say it’s all a failure looking how it was been abused by the same youths. I stated earlier that we need to change our approach. An approach that will change such wasteful empowerments into sustainable ones. A reform that will change the mindset of our youths into an entrepreneurial mindset.
Our Educational system has been said to be designed to produce employees instead of employers, our youths spend years in our Primary, Secondary and tertiary institutions studying subjects/courses that are not useful, there is a disconnection between job requirements at the global market and the skills we acquire at various stages of our education system.
Your Excellency, this is a challenge for us to;
- Create a synergy between academia, business and government.
- Establish an entrepreneurial institution in Yobe State, an institution that will define an interlocking stone skill-set that will produce graduates that are leaders, managers, entrepreneurs, and mentors.
- Invest in innovative uses of technology to strengthen teaching and learning.
- Better connect schooling to workforce skills in demand.
Moreover, Entrepreneurs provide solutions for competitive economies. Given the aforementioned, Your Excellency, I hereby make a passionate appeal for the establishment of Yobe Technical (Training) Senior Schools across the three senatorial districts of Yobe State. The schools if established will develop and improve manpower skills among our teeming youths.
Your Excellency, Ghana has Accra Technical Training College (ATTC) which is one of the best in that country and West Africa. India established Model Technical Traning High Senior Secondary School Kaloor in 1990 especially in the fields of computer science and electricity, currently, India is one of the leading countries in both fields mentioned.
Why my approach is different:
Yobe Technical Training-Senior Secondary School (YBTSS), it’s a system where students will spend 3 years at senior secondary school. The system is different from the modules of the existing BEST centres where diplomas and certificates were offered after six months. This system will equip the students to face the challenges of the world of work. After spending 3 years it is expected of the students to acquire the following:
- Employability Skills
- Entrepreneurial Skills
- Learning Skills
- Technical Skills To fit into the industries and help to develop the society and nation at large.
In conclusion, sir, the prevalence of an education system that is designed to cater for both literacy and vocational/entrepreneurial skills, will undoubtedly bring down the pressure of creation of job in the public sector and make viable the private and informal job sector hence fostering economic growth, peace, and political stability. Looking towards this direction is worth trying because it has worked in many climes and we too should not be an exception.
Thank you
Sincerely yours,
AHMED HARUNA DAYA
(SARKIN SAMARIN JIGAWA DISTRICT, POTISKUM, FIKA EMIRATE, YOBE)
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I strongly disagree with you daya, let the existing primarily, school, sec school and BEST centers be equipped and support with qualified man power.
My question to you are:
Who and where are the qualified personnels to be employed in manning the new schools you are suggesting.
2. Do you forget about lack of light, portable water in these three zones in Yobe.
3. Where is the favourable learning environment in our existing PRI, sec and BEST center. Instead, these existing ones should be improved.