FEC admits fallen standard of education, convenes ministerial retreat

LOLADE AKINMURELE

The Federal Executive Council on Wednesday stepped down a proposed road map for the education sector admitting that the dire state needed more than just a blue print.
This was disclosed by the Education Minister, Adamu Adamu, while briefing journalists after the weekly Council meeting chaired by Acting President Yemi Osinbajo, at the Presidential villa, Abuja.
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The Minister who briefed alongside the Presidential Spokesman, Femi Adesina, said Council discussed the lone issue of education and decided to convene an inter ministerial retreat where all the ministers will have the opportunity to contribute their ideas to the revamp the sector. The retreat is scheduled to hold in the next two weeks.
“Today at council we discussed many issues but the most important was education. Members agreed that the fallen standard in education is so serious that we will need a ministerial retreat to look at all the issues. There are a lot of issues in solution and all of them are crying for attention.
“Initially we had prepared a blueprint but FEC felt the issues is beyond that because there are crisis in all the areas of education, in out of school children, in technical education and training, in ICT, in all the areas you can think of. So ministers are going to start talking to themselves and come out with solutions.
“So there will be a ministerial retreat in the next two weeks to look at the issues and from there we will take off in what we are doing” Adams said.
Analysts have at different times called for the declaration of a state of emergency in the education sector following the decline in quality of education and standards in schools across the country.
He also addressed the issue of withdrawal of Religious education in the curriculum of Secondary schools stating that it was mere rumours. Stating that the social media had made it difficult by spreading falsehood.
“The issue of Christian religious knowledge that all the national media, social media took up with up and  deceived even the leadership of the Christian association of Nigeria because they believed it. I read in the papers that they asked the acting president to confirm, there is no truth in it at all. It was just somebody’s imagination probably somebody who wishes to raise tension in the country after the Biafra issue and then the quit order given to some young people in the north so the person just followed suit trying to stoic the embers of religion. There is no truth whatsoever I repeat” he said .
The Minister further explained that there was a policy in 2012 which was given effect in 2014 that is even before the advent of present administration. “One of the things I did as minister was to speak to the national council on education to disarticulate history from the social studies curricula be caused we believe we want our young people to know our history.
“You cannot know who you are without knowing who your ancestors were in the past. And the national council of education did accept and agree that the teaching and learning of CRK has been made compulsory for all christians students and teaching and learning of Islamic studies is compulsory for all Muslim students” he added.