TO further safeguard lives and property of students and teachers, especially in government-owned schools in the country, government at different levels have been urged to establish vigilance and neighbourhood watch groups that will serve the academic environment.
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The call was made by a former executive secretary of the National Universities Commission (NUC), Professor Peter Okubukola, in a conversation with Tribune Education.
Okebukola said the establishment of such community-based security outfits purposely for schools would boost the services of the regular uniformed security personnel in securing schools.
He said while the efforts of the National Policy on Safety and Security in Schools using regular security agencies is acknowledged, establishing local police strictly for schools would be a great security help for students and their teachers.
Speaking on the ongoing strike by the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), Professor Okebukola said he is optimistic that the action would make government to inject huge amount of money into university education, while the Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund) would also intervene in the provision of infrastructural facilities at all levels of tertiary education.
Okebukola said he foresees the Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC) releasing more funds to various state governments this year for their basic education, while he advocated for the re-establishment of State Education Development Fund (SEDFund) to serve post-basic schools.
“But upon the whole,” he noted, “2019 will turn out to be one of the best years in funding of education in Nigeria in recent times, and this in turn will lead to improvement in physical resourcing of schools, welfare of staff and productivity across the entire system.”
Predicting that cases of sexual harassment in schools especially in universities would be reduced this year based on the current national searchlight on the act and sanctions on perpetrators, Okebukola, a distinguished professor of science and computer education, said the recent rise in insurgent activities in the northeast would prevent out-of-school children figure in the country to fall appreciably.
“But generally, the 2019 general elections will impact positively on the education sector as the winners will strive to impress the citizenry, at least in their first year, and the academic calendar will also be relatively stable,” he said.
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