Staff unions demand education sector state of emergency

The Guardian 07 November 2014

The Academic Staff Union of Universities, or ASUU, and other unions in Nigeria’s universities rose from a conference last weekend asking the federal government to declare a state of emergency in the education sector, writes Iyabo Lawal for The Guardian in Nigeria.

The unions also called for the reconceptualisation of the Nigerian education sector in a manner capable of performing its transformative functions for individuals, groups and the nation at large. The unions, led by ASUU, also resolved to develop and present to the federal government a new education policy which will reflect the aspirations, culture, values and realities of the Nigerian people within the context of a dynamic world.

According to the unions, there is a need for the federal government to declare a state of emergency in the education sector owing to the fact that “the current educational system is characterised by chronic underfunding, bad leadership, and infrastructural decay, poor conditions of learning and service, promotion of mediocrity, shortage of personnel (academic, technical and administrative) and entrenchment of orthodoxy, parochialism and chauvinism”.
Full report on The Guardian site

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