Here's a very powerful piece scribbled by a very good friend and colleague of mine...very revealing a piece that I decided to share it. Hope you enjoy it....
"The best graduating students get paltry sum of money while winners of pageantry smile home with brand new automobiles. How will our country move forward where academic excellence is neglected to the background and frivolities appreciated beyond measure...
No scholarship awards, no bursary for indigent students. Government is gradually or even fully becoming involved in the pageantry issue. This shows the level government, corporate organizations and individual place academics in this nation.
No wonder the decline in academic performance in the various levels of education. Some blame it on the social media while some blame it on the teachers and lecturers. No, I blame it on the stakeholders. Nobody wants to invest in the education sector these days. Bright students are not encouraged, there is certainly no motivation these days.
In the past, our lecturers, teachers and the prominent in the society boost steadily of how they got scholarship grants up to the university level while some were privileged to travel outside the country for their study. Do we get to see that these days? Certainly not. Some universities "manage" to retain their best graduating students while others are left to in the lurch to find their bearing.
On daily basis, we get to see "Miss this", "Miss that", "Miss this this", "Miss that that", "Miss this this this", "Miss that that that" and the list continues endlessly. Each churning out posh vehicles while bright students in the universities toil endlessly, battling with the annoying and excessive fees to pull through the university.
Until priorities are placed right in this country, stagnation will become a recurring decimal. Some private sectors who have been actively involved in sponsoring bright and indigent students or academic innovations and ventures are gradually pulling out and joining the bandwagon of pageantry organizers.
It mustn't be a car, Nigerian students should be encouraged as an educated nation is already on part of success. In various students associations in our universities today, large chunk of money is budgeted for fanfare and pageantry while a little or no attention is paid in academic excellence. I don't blame them at all when the government, corporate organizations and the wealthy in the society who are supposed to champion drive for the reward of academic excellence place high premium on pageantry.
Imagine out of the 800 world best universities, only one university in Nigeria made it. I'm not against pageantry at all, so you don't get it twisted but the needful should be done. Shall we all fold our hands and allow our best brains in the university wallow in abject poverty and penury while we exalt frivolities which won't lead us anywhere?
It's about time, government, private sectors, corporate organizations, stakeholders, wealthy and well meaning Nigerians got serious in tackling the cankerworm that have permeated deep into our education sector. Let's not all pretend we don't know the right thing to do. Of course we all know but the truth is that Nigeria is not yet ready to tell themselves the truth. It's high time we stopped playing politics with education.
Take a stand and support the reward of excellence today and we shall be amazed at what extent we shall get to if we are truly serious about national development."
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