By JACOB ONJEWU DICKSON
In its determination to equip the youth with enduring and sustainable life skills, the federal government has commenced the construction of vocational schools across the nation.
Making the revelation during a project facility tour at General Murtala Muhammad College (GMMC) Yola, the Minister of Education, Professor Mamman Tahir said the Ahmed Bola Tinubu’s administration is desirous at ensuring that young Nigerians have integrated education which combines technical skills acquisition with regular learning.
He said such development will secure the future of our youth and to enable them securitize their future by having sustainable incomes and life skills even if they did not further their education.
Tahir who expressed happiness with the level of work attained so far urged the contractor to meet up with the deadline and ensure quality service delivery.
“This is one of the projects across the country and this government is interested in bridging the gap between what is approved and what is on ground. So we want to see the projects being executed according the terms of the contract. That is why I took the advantage of coming home to see the projects that are going on at the state level.
“This vocational school is a school meant to provide the students throughout their period of stay here with skills beyond literacy and numeracy so that by the time they finished the school they would have acquired some technical skills and they can go with their lives even without further education.
“And again if they wish to acquire more education, they can go to polytechnics and monotechnics and even the university. By and large the idea behind this policy is to provide our students quality education and to merge knowledge with skills acquisition,” he said.
The minister noted that the President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s administration has placed so much premium on education by putting the sector at the forefront of his agenda.
“It’s a tough programme to revamp and rejig education but if you are following our activities in the last four months, there are series of programs which we undertook to revamp the sector which include the development of a roadmap on education which commences two weeks after our inauguration.
“We developed a roadmap to cover the entire education sector and that roadmap has been tested and discussed at various forum and stakeholders levels and adopted by the national council on education in December and we are set to implement it.
“Secondly, the federal government has set up deliverables for ministries. That of the education is intended to revamp the system using the bottom top approach because if you don’t have a good foundation, what you are going to do at the top is not going to work properly and the education will just crumble.
“That is why we are giving a lot of attention to what is happening at the basic education level and secondary school level and the concern we have for secondary students is to have knowledge beyond numeracy and literacy but to ensure that when a child finishes secondary school he has both skills and knowledge,” he said.
Tahir also reiterated the commitment of the federal government to defray the four months unpaid salary of university lecturers as promised noting that the government is putting up modalities to ensure the issue is finally put to rest.
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