Education

By Muhammadu Sabiu

The National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) says it plans to resume its orientation programme for new corps members in Borno, 13 years after it was put on hold owing to the Boko Haram insurgency.

According to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), the insurgency has, for numerous years, forced corps members who had been posted to the state to do their orientation course in Katsina State.

The next orientation would take place in the state, according to Mr Lawal Yusufu, the state’s commissioner of police, who was speaking to reporters at the ad hoc orientation camp on Monday at the Arabic Teachers College in Maiduguri.

Yusufu, who spoke after examining the camp’s facilities, stated that security agencies will collaborate to provide security for the incoming NYSC members at the camp’s entrance, exit, and other strategic locations.

Government representatives, including the Secretary to the State Government, Alhaji Bukar Tijjani, the State NYSC Coordinator, Mr. Mohammed Adamu, and the State Chairman of the NYSC Governing Board, Alhaji Mohammed Badiya, accompanied the commissioner on the tour.

The new NYSC members’ orientation programme is scheduled to start on August 18.

By Abdurrahman Muhammad

David Roger Jowitt, the renowned British professor of Nigerian English, who had lived in Nigeria for six decades and became a citizen in 2023, died yesterday after a brief illness.

Professor Jowitt was an academic and an author. His books, Nigerian English and Common Errors in English, are some of the best on the subject. He had reportedly been working on his memoir before his death.

He also taught at Bayero University, Kano, University of Jos, among many other institutions across the country.

Your Excellency, Abba Kabir Yusuf

I hope this message reaches you in good condition. I write this letter to advise you on the teachers whose salaries have been withheld pending their verification and screening of their recruiting processes. We all believe this is for sustaining education quality within the state boundaries. 

It is heartbreaking and adds pain to the people in mourning. The suspended teachers can now be seen as unemployed, leading to a high rate of criminality, a threat to the state’s peace and stability, and creating economic hardship for the state. 

With due respect, Your Excellency Governor, not all suspended teachers are unqualified and incompetent. Most of them obtained National Certificate In Education (NCE), which is requisite for teaching, and we believe in putting everything in place.

I kindly call on the Excellency Governor of Kano State, Abba Kabir Yusuf, and his cabinets for urgent consideration to reinstate the suspended teachers to take a breath of liberty. I hope this message reaches you on time and that you will consider my request.

Thank you for your attention to this matter, and I extend my best wishes to you as you continue leading Kano toward a brighter future.

Yakubu Nasir Khalid

yakubunasirukhalid@gmail.com

By Kamal Alkasim

For many divorcées, the decision to return to school and pursue their dreams after parting ways with their husbands presents a significant challenge. In this article, we will explore the undeniable transformative power of education and its role in empowering divorcées to build a brighter future for themselves. Through the voices of these resilient women, we will understand the importance of providing them with the opportunity to pursue higher education and break free from the false theories that have hindered their path.

The Transformative Power of Education

Education is a powerful tool that can turn any individual into a star; women are no exception. By prioritising their studies over remarriage, divorcées can equip themselves with knowledge, skills, and confidence to overcome obstacles and shape their destiny. Education serves as the foundation for the development of any society and holds the key to personal and societal growth.

Challenging False Theories

Unfortunately, outdated and false theories surrounding women’s education in tertiary institutions have deterred many from pursuing their dreams. These misconceptions have created barriers for divorcées seeking to return to school. By challenging these beliefs, society can open new opportunities for these women to thrive.

Voices of Empowerment

Through conversations with divorcées who have chosen to pursue their dreams through education, we gain valuable insights into their determination and resilience. One woman shared her regret for not pursuing her studies earlier but expressed optimism about the positive changes education would bring to her future. Another divorcée spoke of her unwavering ambition to gain an education and fulfil her goals despite her challenges.

“If I had known earlier, I would have pursued my studies long ago. But now, this opportunity will bring positive changes to my future. I may have faced some challenges, but with education, I can overcome any obstacle.” – Divorcée.

“My greatest ambition is to gain an education, and after my divorce, I promised myself that I would come back to achieve this goal.” – Divorcée.

“People may judge me based on appearances and talk rubbish, but that won’t deter me. I will mind my own business and study human behaviour. This knowledge will help me solve matrimonial cases and more.” – Divorcée.

Overcoming Judgment and Criticism

Divorcées often encounter judgment and criticism from others, but their determination to succeed remains unshaken. One brave woman acknowledged the judgment she faced but declared her commitment to minding her own business and studying human behaviour to help others in similar situations. These voices exemplify the strength and resolve of divorcées in their pursuit of education.

Empowerment Through Education

Let us join hands in defeating these nonsensical theories and supporting divorcées in their educational journey. By empowering these women with education, we provide them with the tools to overcome obstacles and create a brighter future. Education holds the potential to transform lives and enable divorcées to achieve their dreams without fear or judgment.

Education is a beacon of hope for divorcées seeking to rebuild their lives and pursue their aspirations. By allowing them to learn and grow, society can break down barriers and empower these women to become agents of positive change. Let us recognise the transformative power of education and support divorcées in their quest for knowledge and self-fulfilment. With education as their ally, the future holds boundless opportunities for these strong and determined women.

Kamal Alkasm is writing from Kano.

By Muhammadu Sabiu 

Professor Sagir Adamu Abbas, the vice chancellor of Bayero University, Kano (BUK), has revealed that the university has implemented a job programme for students in which the university hired students to do some jobs for it in exchange for N15,000 per month. 

Delivering a speech over the weekend in Kano when he met a group from the university’s main campus and the Education Correspondents Association of Nigeria (ECAN), Adamu-Sagir said: “The university equally introduced a kind of job scheme for students, whereby they were engaged to render some services to the university, and they were paid N15,000 monthly.  

“This does not affect their normal learning because it does not take much of their time as some were to clean some surroundings or render certain minor service within the university and got paid at the end of the month.”

The Vice-Chancellor bemoaned the large expense of maintaining the institution in his remarks over the rise in registration fees, particularly the exorbitant cost of providing fuel. 

He disclosed that the monthly cost of power is approximately N35 million, and the cost of diesel for generator purchases is approximately N40 million. 

He also noted that with a student body of almost 45,000, including postgraduates, and a staff of over 5,000, both teaching and non-teaching, it was practically impossible to provide social services. As a result, the management was compelled to hike registration fees.

By Dr. Aliyu U. Tilde

FOR STUDENTS, two days ago I learned about the tragic death of a mother who developed sudden BP after failing to gather enough funds for the last minute registration of her orphan daughter at a federal university in the northwest.

Within a day of illness, the mother died. This got me thinking of means to reduce difficulties for hundreds of thousands of students facing similar challenges on all our campuses. They are well into their courses when the fees were tripled. The students’ loan promised has not taken off and institutions have set deadlines for online registration. Do we sit back as a nation to see the students abandon their studies? No. We must do something. Here are my humble suggestions:

1. Installment payments. Higher institutions should allow old students to spread payments over the remaining sessions of their courses, with the caveat that no student shall sit for a semester exams or be issued his certificate without completing his payment. However, an initial deposit, say 30% of the fee, can be required at the beginning of the session or semester.
2. Students loan: The Special Committee under the CBN which is statutorily empowered to administer the loan should double its effort to enable a quick take off. Remember that the President once said he would like to meet the first set of beneficiaries of the loan in September.
3. Remove Family Earning Cap: The Committee can remove the family earning cap to allow any student to access the loan as the President has ordered.
4. Guarantors: State governments can serve as guarantors for their indigenes instead of individuals.
5. Online application: The Committee can explore digitizing all or part of the application process to reduce stampede at banks and check corrupt practices like extortion of students by officials of institutions and banks.
6. Legislation: To effect these changes, some sections of the Student Loans Act, 2023, need to be amended. This can be expressly done with the cooperation of the National Assembly and the Presidency.

Dr. Aliyu U. Tilde can be reached on Twitter: @Dr_AliyuTilde

By Uzair Adam Imam

Senator Rufa’i Sani Hanga, the senator representing Kano Central, was commended by the Management of Bayero University, Kano (BUK), for sponsoring the registeration of 200 BUK students.

Senator Hanga was applauded for rescuing Kano students who initially thought their academic journey at BUK was over as a result of the increment in the registration fees by the school management.

This was contained in the BUK weekly Bulletin made available on Friday by the Deputy Registrar Public Affairs, Malam Lamara Garba.

Other persons commended by the university were Honourable Abubakar Kabiru Abubakar, member of the House of Representatives, Bichi Federal Constituency, who sponsored 100 students and the Rep of Doguwa who is thinking of doing something similar.

Similarly, the national body of the Nigerian Universities Engineering Students Association (NUESA) was also commended for sponsoring 39 BUk students as part of its support to the less privilege.

The Daily Reality recalls that in July, the management of BUK, in its Special Bulletin, announced the increment of school fees, a development that came as a shock to many students.

The decision by the university management generated a pandemonium considering the economic hardship in the country.

However, Senator Hanga, and his likes, who felt the student’s pain, responded and instructed his scholarship committee to screen the indigent students for the fully-funded scholarship.

Hanga said, “This is in response to the outcry caused by the registration fee increment in Bayero University, Kano which threatens the progress of many students in the university.

While I consider this a quick intervention, I want to stress that more programmes that target the upliftment and empowerment of our people are on the pipeline, in shaa Allah,” he added.

Our reporter learnt that the list of the 200 successful applicants has been compiled and submitted to the management of Bayero University, Kano.

While commending his scholarship committee, Hanga said, “I wish to advise the beneficiaries to make the good use of the opportunity.”

By Muhammadu Sabiu 

In a recent announcement, the British Council informed test takers about an upcoming fee increase for its IELTS (International English Language Testing System) examinations.  

Effective September 1, 2023, the new pricing structure aims to maintain the high-quality standards of testing experiences. 

Under the revised pricing, IELTS Academic and IELTS General Training tests will be priced at NGN 107,500, while the cost for UK visa and Immigration-related tests will be NGN 116,000. Additionally, the Life Skills test will see a price adjustment to NGN 104,000. 

The British Council emphasised that the decision to raise prices is essential to upholding the exceptional quality that test takers have come to expect from their IELTS assessments. 

Despite the increase, the council remains committed to providing accurate evaluations of English language proficiency to individuals pursuing academic, professional, or immigration-related goals. 

In a concise statement, the British Council expressed gratitude to all those who have chosen their services for language assessment. 

Test takers and individuals planning to take the IELTS tests after September 1, 2023, are advised to take note of the updated pricing structure to ensure accurate financial planning for their assessment endeavours.    

By Prof. Abdelghaffar Amoka

When I was an undergraduate student, one of my lecturers during a physics class told us that physics makes you think better than others. We were wondering how. He said we don’t have to pick up a physics job after graduation but that whatever we decide, the skills acquired while studying physics will lead us through. That I later found to be true when I look at my classmates and their different endeavours.

In another class, the lecturer told us we should learn not to compartmentalise our brains. Let all that we have in our heads work together. During my undergraduate days, we were constantly reminded that as we pass through the university, we must allow the university to pass through us.

I was passing by the Department of Mathematics this morning, and my eyes captured their sign oars. On the signboard was the motto: “Critical thought for a critical mind”. The department claimed to be a place to develop critical minds. I have seen critical minds from there that are bankers, entrepreneurs, etc.

We were discussing this morning, and a friend narrated to us how he got a job as a marketing officer, a position he never applied for. He applied for the position of Admin Officer, and to end the interview after responding to all the questions from the panel members, the DG asked him why he didn’t apply for the position of Marketing Officer. He answered that he did not study marketing and he felt that from his degree, he was only qualified to be Admin Officer. The DG then responded that with his communication skill and confidence, he would do well as a Marketing Officer and was hired as a Marketing Officer.

One of the top skills required from a graduate is communication skills, and your training in the university includes that. Graduates need to be able to effectively get the message across, including in verbal and written formats. It’s also about listening and understanding other views. Good command of languages for projecting a confident, professional image and for good communication with clients and colleagues. If you don’t have it, you should blame yourself, not your university.

Aside from your hard technical skills, the other skills expected from a graduate are Time management, flexibility or adaptability to respond to unexpected changes in circumstances or workload effectively. Ability to work in a team to take on the responsibility to ensure your team achieves its goals. Critical thinking and problem-solving skill to approach problems and resolve issues from different angles is also highly valued.

Interpersonal skills to build positive working relationships, good communication, persuasion, and negotiation. Being flexible in your thinking and being open-minded and curious, and creative thinking that will help in problem-solving and innovation. The ability to understand others towards finding solutions that allow both parties to achieve their goals or come out of a situation. Leadership, the ability to bring something extra to a team, is essential. You are required to have a basic knowledge of the field. And guess what? You should have learned all these skills in school.

These are embedded in some of the activities we ignored in school. Some of them look routing, but there are important lessons in them. Time management is ensuring you hand in your assignment or report at the due date and time. That lecturer who locks you out of the lecture room, because you are 10 minutes late to his class, has nothing to benefit from you missing the class. He is training you to respect the time and be punctual. They say time is money, and punctuality is the soul of business. Flexibility to handle unexpected workloads is managing your time to take extra lectures and extracurricular activities. The ability to work in a team ensures that your practical or presentation group achieves its goal within the specified time.

Giving a class assignment or exam questions that require a little thinking is building your critical thinking to deal with challenging situations. You have classmates with diverse beliefs and ideologies to develop interpersonal relationships with and get to understand them. You are made to have seminar presentations to develop your ability to present an idea to the public and defend it. You are meant to lead a practical or study group for a reason. You are learning to be a team leader. Campus associations and societies are not there just for fun. Some of the union leaders grow to become political leaders.

So, don’t let anyone discourages you from pursuing a degree program, except it’s your choice not to go for a degree. Pursue your degree and pay attention to the requisite skills for the degree.

If you didn’t get these skills as you are graduating, stop arguing over skills vs “just” degree and blaming your university and lecturers for failing to acquire the skills during your study. You just passed through the university and did not allow the university to pass through you. Go and develop it; it is not late. Maybe you are the one that the book is referring to.

However, let me remind you that if you have these skills in Nigeria, it will be easier to use them to get a job outside than in the country. To get a job here, you may need the extra skill of knowing someone that knows somebody that knows another person to get a job. I learn some jobs are on sale. If you have the cash to buy one, I wonder if you need these skills.

An ex-aide to the Chairperson of the Federal Character Commission was reported to have confessed before a House of Representatives ad hoc committee investigating job racketeering at ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs). He said he had sold federal employment slots to job seekers at the directives of his former boss. According to him, some paid N1 million, others N1.5 million.

Finally, our problem is not skills or degrees; we have these in abundance and even export them abroad (the Japa phenomenon). Our problem is creating a system where the son of nobody can become somebody without knowing anybody. Our present system is not sustainable. It’s a disaster waiting to happen.

Abdelghaffar Amoka Abdelmalik, PhD, wrote from Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria. He can be reached via aaabdelmalik@gmail.com.

By Muhammadu Sabiu 

A total of 1,205,888 applicants have enrolled for the current 2023 Senior School Certificate Examination, or SSCE, which is being administered by the National Examinations Council (NECO). 

The Head of Information and Public Relations, Azeez Sani, revealed this in a statement on Friday in Abuja. 

In Jos, while observing the administration of the exam in various schools, Prof. Dantani Wushishi, the NECO registrar, was quoted by Mr. Sani as having stated that 601,074 of the candidates were male and 584,814 were female. 

Based on information gathered from around the nation, he expressed satisfaction with the SSCE’s overall performance in 2023. 

The registrar noted that the 2023 SSCE, which will be finished next week, was the best organised in recent years.