An educationist, Mr Wasiu Adumadeyi has urged government to compel teachers to take certain professional examinations and get licensed before they can be accredited to practice.
Adumadeyin, also the proprietor of Waslat School, Apongbon, Lagos made this suggestion in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Monday in Lagos.
He is also the President, Lagos chapter, National Association of Proprietors of Private Schools (NAPPS).
“The idea of professional qualification for teachers will go a long way to make the profession attractive and to attract the best hands in Nigerians,’’ he said.
The educationist advised public and private schools to consider periodic training of their teachers in order to improve quality of education in the state.
“For the teachers already in the system, the issue of training and retraining should be taken as a priority by school administrators.
“Quality teaching is integral to a functional education system, and the capacity and welfare of the teachers is important in achieving this,’’ he said.
The NAPPS president advised pupils and their parents to shun examination malpractice and to be more serious with their academic activities.
“Examination malpractice is one area that NAPPS is concerned about and we urge our students and their parents to shun examination malpractice.
“It is better to have the knowledge than to pass; most of our graduates are not able to secure employment because they are not able to defend their certificates,’’ he said.
Adumadeyin advised government and education stakeholders to revisit the idea of vocational education to give more opportunities to the youths to acquire technical knowledge.
“We should go back to the drawing board and promote vocational education in our country.
“The module of our education curriculum emphasises on vocational education after the junior secondary school, but the implementation has not been effective.
“We have also encouraged private schools owners to invest more on vocational education to enhance skills acquisition and self employment; though it is capital intensive,’’ he said.
He assured that private schools in Lagos were operating a unified examination system to ensure quality control.
“Private schools in Lagos now write the same examinations known as the thermally unified examination.
“This was designed to further entrench quality control and maintain high standard in private schools.’’
Adumadeyin advised the Lagos state government to encourage the study of Yoruba and other major languages in the universities as a means of promoting the language in schools.
“There is a dearth of Yoruba teachers in schools because most people are not interested in studying Yoruba as a course in the university.
“Government should promote the study of Yoruba as a way of encouraging the use of the language in our schools,” he suggested.