Wednesday 7 August 2013

Opinion: From ASUU with love

The educated differ from the uneducated as much as the living from the dead

– Aristotle

This quote says it all and defines straightaway that to give education to an ignorant mind is to give life to his dying soul and sometimes a dead soul. The state of educational system in this country leaves one to doubt the brightness in the  future of Nigeria as the future captains of the ship have little or no opportunities of qualitative education.  And the reception of half education is in itself a deformity.

Taking a quick survey at certain public secondary schools in my vicinity have once again shown how pitiable the state of education is and reveals our macabre dance painted in foolish unalloyed hope.  You will not understand this if for all your life you paid exorbitant schools fees to private school owners for attain some level of quality education. You will not understand this if lunch is served in your school even though you paid for it. You definitely would not understand this if you teacher understands the subject he is teaching you. Don't expect to understand this if you never sat in a public secondary school class where the classes are overcrowded, where the ceilings are falling and the classes are uncompleted or sometimes dilapidated buildings- forget all the pictures they show you on newspapers and take a walk yourself through these structures because the quote is true

The man who reads nothing at all is better educated than the man who reads nothing but newspapers

 –Thomas Jefferson

When the teachers are nothing to write home about and the structures are suffering from neglect, what do you expect of the proceeds of this muddled marriage save an ill-educated and thus deformed mind- a plague to the society and an imminent time bomb?

While ASUU as a body does not in any form comprehend tutors of pre-tertiary institutions, its sudden fight for the welfare of students in all the academia seem suspicious especially after the body called off its strike when money matters and other selfish demands were fulfilled in 2009 after relegating students to their homes for complete six months.

Isn't it funny that these same lecturers who have suddenly realized that students should have workable laboratories and libraries are the same men at the helm of affairs who rusticate or suspend students when they demand same either on the streets, on press boards or within the school. They are the same lecturers that have refused to update their lecture notes and teach students squabbles from the past in the world that is fast changing both ideologically and technologically. They are the same lecturers that come to class few weeks before examination and put up a fire brigade approach to lecturing or tutorship. It is these same lecturers that steal student hard done projects and put it up as theirs on the Internet and make dishonest proceeds as patents of a student's work. These same lecturers have suddenly turned knights of education overnight especially when they realized that their salaries are yards behind those of public secretaries, local government officials, ministers and senators. Knights of what?

Right! The fight for qualitative education is a fight for all but then this is no fight for hypocrites and selfish goons. But what do we have when the only student body recognized by the presidency, National Association Nigerian Students (NANS) is filled with political slaves and thugs seeking recognition and an expeditious approach to be initiated into the grimed and cultic political circle. The fact remains that NANS is just a flea feeding off our names and portraying itself to be our vanguards! Vanguards? No! Demented Collaborators? Definitely!

So it would not be surprising if ASUU calls of the strike having ensured that they ride on the same planes of salary schemes with the thieves in Abuja and have all their allowances attached too. I would not be surprised if they suddenly realized that, after money has exchanged hands, the education sector in a gradual phasing out and not an abrupt change in the decaying system. It definitely would not be shocking if undergraduates return to the same old laboratories and ill stocked libraries after the increase in budget of education has only reflected in the cumbersome salaries after several months of foxy vociferousness. Neither would public secondary school students be reluctant to return to their falling class ceilings, ignorant teachers, and non-conducive classrooms to repay their attention to deformed education. They had never been part of the fight, anyway. And it definitely would not be a bolt from the blue if these grumpy lecturers return to their homes again when their cancer of greed strikes again.

Therefore I must say, that this sudden love that they have for students and their welfare can be likened to the friendship of the hunter and his gun- they part ways after the bush meat is got- the gun serving as a mere tool for his target.

The incessant strikes have however become worrisome and have caused the education sector more epilepsies than it already suffers. While many are worried with being kept in schools after being overdue for graduation, there is an increased worry over their eligibility for certain jobs that mostly require young graduates especially those that fall in their early twenties. And who doesn't want to finish early anyway especially in pursuance of extra academic honours or a transit to European or South African universities where their education really begins after learning endurance here.

But we can never say! ASUU's love may be genuine!

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