BY CHUKWUEBUKA OHUIZU / UMUAHIA
The Civil Society Action Coalition on Education for All (CSACEFA) has called on Abia State Governor, Dr Alex Otti to as a matter of urgency, make a move to ensure an increase in education financing in the state.
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CSACEFA made the call during the conclusion of this year’s Global Action Week for Education (GAWE), sponsored by Education Out Loud (EOL), a Global Partnership for Education (GPE) for advocacy and social accountability.
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Eunice Egbuna, Abia State Coordinator of CSACEFA while addressing the media during the GAWE commemoration said that GAWE is celebrated annually to alert stakeholders that there is a need to put Education first as a tool for development.
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She, however, explained that this year’s theme: “Investing in a Just World: Decolonizing Education Financing Now!” is channelled towards achieving social accountability project in education.
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She said their mission is to come into the educational environment here and talk to the Government to finance education and collaborate with us so we can find a solution to the main problems in education here.
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According to her, research by CSACEFA has shown that very little amount of money out of the annual budget is what is channelled for education which she said has not helped the sector as things get worst daily.
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She said that there is a huge funding gap in education in Abia State compared to other sectors, and stressed that such a gap could be reduced if Abia allocates sufficient resources for education in their next budget and monitor the usage.
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“It’s high time the Government looked into the public schools, revive them both infrastructural wise and otherwise to end the extortionist actions of these private schools.
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“These private schools are the reason why external examinations like WASSCE are too costly here because of their unbelievable charges different from what WAEC wants.
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“This is why we have many out-of-school children in this state because public schools are bad and poor parents can’t afford the so-called private schools that are just interested in money.
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“A majority of these private schools don’t have Parents-Teachers Association (PTA) and that is why they wake up every time and do whatever they want without anybody questioning them.
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“We want Government to return our Public schools where they belong to. They need to retrain teachers and pay them well. If this is done, private schools will crumble because they’re just business centres. They gather people who don’t have special training for education.
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“They’re the brain behind the special centres where children go and get good results without having anything in their brains. You can see how crimes committed by teenagers are increasing because they’re no longer in school and what we call schools now aren’t schools at all.
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“We’re saying that education should go deeper than it has been. We are saying that our budget for education should go beyond what it is now.
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“Our mission is to know how much is being budgeted, what was it used for, to encourage them to do more and collaborate with them to ensure that the money mapped out for education is used for education and not diverted for other things we don’t know about. We’re looking at a Nigeria guaranteed of quality, affordable, accessible and inclusive education.”
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Godson Ibekwe-umelo, former South-East Zonal coordinator of CSACEFA said that the government has not been truthful on the issue of budgetary allocation for education.
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He stressed that the records available to them show that about nine to ten per cent of the state’s budget was meant for education on paper, but are not properly used for education at all.
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“At the end of the paper write-up, one will discover that less than six per cent were utilized for education. When you move around schools here, what you’ll see will make you cry.
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“Most schools here aren’t secure, no equipment, the teachers morale are very low, they’re not paid and our public schools are dying.
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“So, this annual event set aside for education stakeholders to use between May and June to talk about is one we can’t misuse. The main focus is to ensure that accessed funds are properly used when accessed.
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“We must also focus on the type of education that can make us stand well as a nation not education centred on certificates. We beg for proper utilization of all education funds,” he said.
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