Cult Members Have Godfathers In Government — Okebukola

In this interview with MOTUNRAYO JOEL, the President, UNESCO Global
University Network for Innovation and former Executive Secretary,
National Universities Commission, Prof. Peter Okebukola, tackles
various issues bedevilling the nation's education system
If we compare the curriculum of secondary schools and universities,
would you say there is a link between both curricula?
Yes of course, there is a link. The National Universities Commission
in developing or revising university curriculum, factors in the
content of the lower level curriculum, in this case,that of the
secondary level. Take the B.Sc. Chemistry programme for example,
efforts are made to ensure that the contents of 100-level courses are
pitched at the exit level of the senior school certificate. This way,
fresh students are guaranteed smooth transition from secondary to the
university.
To what extent does the university curriculum have the capacity to
help our society?
To the extent that the university curriculum is delivered as
intentioned,then one can say that it has the capacity to foster
development of the society through the provision of high-level human
resources to drive the economy and provide quality leadership for the
public and private sector. However, the sad part of the story is that,
for many reasons, there is a gap between the intended and the achieved
curriculum. For instance, you plan an engineering curriculum at
300-level to cover 15 topics and to have full, hands-on practical
work.
Owing to interruptions in the academic calendar, inadequacies in
laboratory and workshop facilities, depressed quantity and quality of
lecturers in engineering, poor reading culture of students,
examination inadequacies and a host of other process variables; the
curriculum is delivered less than it is intentioned. This is the
achieved curriculum. Only 8 of the 15 topics are covered and practical
work is hardly carried out by the students. The achieved curriculum
ends up being about 45 per cent of the intended. We may take this as a
simplemathematical expression of how we come about "half-baked"
graduates.
The long and short of the story is that the university curriculum has
the capacity to help the society, but this capacity is minimally
explored.
What role does moral education play in preparing candidates for higher
institution and against cultism?
Moral education is a key to good citizenship and pathway to instilling
good behaviour and acceptable values in students. Secondary school
students, who are already imbued with internal sense of right and
wrong through moral education, will come to higher educational
institutions with a stern aversion for cultism and examination
malpractice. They will display honesty, respect for elders and
stewardship. They will shun corruptionand aberrant sexual behaviours
that are prevalent in higher education institutions.
This is the theory side of the matter. The practical side shamefully
shows that an elder, who the young secondary school student looks up
to, has a derailed moral compass. In class, moral education teaches
him or her to be honest and shun corruption. At home, his or her
parents are dishonest and corrupt. In place of worships such as the
church or mosque, religious leaders who preach good behaviour and good
citizenship are not exemplary in their behaviour, as are known crooks
around town. This mismatch imperils the success of moral education in
schools. The fight for good morals and character should be carried
beyond moral education delivered in and out of schools to the entire
citizenry, young and old.
Is there any way that the university prepares students for life
outside the profession they are trained in?
There are several ways, chief of which is entrepreneurial education.
Entrepreneurial education is an offering which equips learners with
knowledge, skills and attitudes to be an entrepreneur or innovator -
the person who develops a new product, market, or a new means of
production. In sum, it is all activities aimed to foster
entrepreneurial mind-sets, attitudes and skills covering a range of
aspects such as idea generation, start-up, growth and innovation.
The world out there is one which demands that the graduate,
regardlessof discipline, should draw on knowledge and skills for job
creation. Over 90 per cent of our universities now run compulsory
courses in entrepreneurial studies for all undergraduates. In a study
conducted in 2011, the top five universities in terms of quality of
delivery of entrepreneurial studies are Pan Atlantic University
(formerly Pan African University), Covenant University, University of
Ibadan, University of Ilorin and Olabisi Onabanjo University. Kwara
State University is coming up quite strong in this endeavour.
Who is to blame for the fall in education standard?The basket of blame
for the depressed quality of education in Nigeria can be shared by all
stakeholders. Mind you, I have not agreed that the "standard" is
falling because I know it is rising. Whathas fallen is quality,
including the proportion of those who can meet set standards. Let us
leave that debate for another day. Government has its share of the
blame with low investment in the sector. While parents are blameworthy
for poor guidance and home support, teachers are to blame for
delivering poor quality education. Students themselves carry a huge
sliceof this blame for poor attitude to work and the craving to pass
without reading. They are more engrossed with social rather than
academic life. For me, the goal is not to waste time shifting or
apportioning blame, but to collectively explore how all stakeholders
can be part of the solution.
How should universities deal with cultism?
There is a blueprint developed by the Federal Ministry of Education
for dealing with cultism. This document is extensive in its
prescriptions; including sanctions such as expulsion, publishing the
photos and names of cultists, sharing of a database of cultists by all
institutions so that they are not inadvertently admitted into another
institution when expelled. The prescriptions also include counselling
and public awareness campaigns on our campuses against cultism.
However, what do you do when the godfathers of these cultists are well
placed in government and in religious organisations? While the
universities should work towards removing the specks from their eyes,
the larger Nigerian society should remove the huge log of cultism from
its eyes!
How has your return to Lagos State University brought development to
the institution?
I returned to LASU in August 2006 whenI left the National Universities
Commission and I am enjoying every bit of my teaching, postgraduate
supervision and research. This is one side of my contribution to the
development of the institution. We have set up a LASU Science and
Technology Education Research Group to strengthen capacity of academic
staff in research and be able to publish our research efforts in the
most outstanding journals around the world.
Within the last one year, the 75-member group has been able to publish
in the world's top two science education journals. Before the end of
2013, we shall have 10 of our research papers enjoying space in
high-quality publication outlets. Our current Vice-Chancellor,
Professor John Obafunwa, has also asked that I serve as Chairman of
the Academic Planning Committee. The committee has been working with
the Director of Academic Planning and her staff to re-invigorate
academic planning activities in the university.
In your opinion, what set of people qualify to become minister of education?
The minister of education of a great country like Nigeria should have
two basic attributes- one acquired, the other innate. The acquired is
the deep knowledge of the Nigerian, African andglobal education
systems. The innate is a passion to lead the efforts to solve the
multiplicity of problems bedevilling the Nigerian education system.
The first attribute can be read up from reports; it can also be part
of the person's training. On this count, some have rightfully
canvassed that the minister should be a professor of education. For
me, the second attribute is more important - the passion to heal the
sick Nigerian educational system. The minister should have an undying
zeal to selflessly serve and be one who will continuously aim a hard
blow at the jugular of the problems facing education.
Is the Nigerian government successfully working towards curbing unemployment?
The government is making efforts. These efforts need to be stepped up.
Public universities are facing funding inadequacies, low teacher
quantity and quality, interruption to academic calendar as a result of
strikes, challenges of infrastructural facilities, poor curriculum
delivery, and poor students' attitude to work and social vices. These
are the key issues. What should be done? That is the easy part. We
should reverse the trend - invest more in education, strive to get
qualityteachers, provide adequate facilities… Ican spend a whole day
enumerating what we should do. The truth of the matter is we all (or
most people) knowwhat should be done. The political willat the local,
state and federal levels is in short supply to reverse the trend.