Inadequate funding has been identified as one of the major challenges confronting the Nigerian education system, resulting in a shortage of qualified teachers, inadequate educational infrastructure, and a lack of learning materials.
The President of the Old Students Association of Methodist High School, Idanre, in Ondo State, Dr Dokun Dairo, lamented the state of schools in the country, noting that this development has contributed to the low quality of education and literacy rates in Nigeria.
Speaking while handing over a ₦50 million building project to the school during the reunion of students from 1985 to 2022 sets, Dairo also assured the school authorities of a sum of ₦20 million from a fundraising effort put together by the old students.
Dairo said, “We are having a problem maintaining the quality of education because the government alone cannot fund education. We need other stakeholders to fund education. Our government needs to come out and acknowledge that they don’t have enough resources to fund education, especially tertiary education.
The government should focus on primary and secondary education and vocational education while allowing the private sector and private stakeholders to invest in tertiary education.
“The government needs to help us regulate quality by setting up standards for teachers’ qualifications, infrastructure, and the size of the school before it can be called a secondary school or primary school.”
The chairman said on the projects handed over to the school,” The project cost over ₦50 million because it was done through direct labour. According to the estimate of the surveyor and the engineers, if we were to contract this out, it probably would have cost about ₦150 million, but it was built by direct labour, and we did the project management.
Before now, many of our old students have been using their influence to help the school maintain infrastructure and add infrastructure to the school. One of our old students helped us facilitate a block of six classrooms, and another member of our association also helped to facilitate the tarring of the school parking lot and the channelization of roads.
The Chairman of the occasion, who is the President General of Idanre Development Assembly (IDA), Chief Anthony Omolola, enjoined other well-to-do sons and daughters of Idanre to prioritize the development of the community.
Omolola urged other Old Students Associations to emulate the gesture and the selfless performance of those of Methodist High School, Idanre.
The traditional ruler of the Owa of Idanre Kingdom, Oba Frederick Adegunle Aroloye, Arubiefin, described the gesture of the old students as unprecedented.
Speaking through the Neren of Idanre Land, High Chief Rufus Akinnawonu, the monarch, appealed to other old student associations to give back to their alma maters.