UBEC boss decries high rate of violence, other vices in schools

The Executive Secretary of the Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC), Dr Hamid Bobboyi, has decried the high rate of vices and negative behaviours in Nigerian schools, especially basic education level.

He attributed the ugly development to the degeneration of moral values overturning Nigerian society.

Bobboyi spoke on Tuesday in Abuja at a 2-day stakeholders’ meeting on value regeneration and reorientation at the basic education level in the country.

He lamented that the loss of the nation’s cherished values is demonstrated in the many vices and negative behavior such as stealing, drunkenness, a financial crime known as yahoo-yahoo, truancy, violence, and many others.

“The disheartening aspect is that many of these vices are now prevalent in our schools, especially the basic education schools,” he said.

The UBEC boss noted that before now, the Commission had conducted an explorative survey to gather information on the level of moral degeneration, its causes as well as its effect on teaching and learning in the school, saying based on the findings, something is needed to be done urgently to mitigate the effect of the degeneration hence the stakeholders meeting was convened by the Commission.

He added that the participants at the workshop were deliberately brought in from the different facets of life: the Church, Academia, the private sector, practitioners, and classroom teachers, attesting to the fact that all of them have vital roles to play in the development of values and moral of children and learners in the society.

Bobboyi said: “The Universal Basic Education Commission as an agency of Government has the onus to re-order the situation as it has as one of its objectives ‘’to ensure the acquisition of appropriate level of literacy, numeracy, manipulative, communicative and life skills as well as ethical, moral, and civic values.

“In fulfilling this objective, and in relation to the mandate of the Commission, the focus is the school. In as much that there are many other institutions responsible for moulding the character of the child, the school plays a major role in the life of a child.

“The school is a socializing agent of moral and character building where responsible functional citizens are developed from the cradle.

“It is important to note that the basic education level is where learners are given the opportunity to equip themselves with moral values, skills and competencies that can assist them in effecting personal and community positive change. This is why the Commission has taken it upon itself to organize the stakeholder’s workshop with the school as its target,” he said.