The Federal Government has criticised the country’s skill gaps and negligence of Senior Secondary Education and tasked the new National Senior Secondary Education Commission with reversing the alarming trend.
Malam Adamu Adamu, Minister of Education, spoke in Abuja at the launch of the newly constituted National Senior Secondary Education Commission (NSSEC).
He also blamed the country’s recent failure to meet MDG targets on the country’s basic education system.
Adamu, represented by Hon Chukwuemeka Nwajiuba, Minister of State for Education, noted a gap in the country’s oversight of Senior Secondary Education, claiming that many graduates at that educational level lack necessary knowledge grounded in life skills for global competitiveness.
According to him, Nigeria’s high rate of out-of-school youths was “occasioned by lack of access to basic education, poor infrastructure and lack of adequate and qualified teachers as well as beliefs that are alien to both our culture and religion”.
He pointed out that primary education was the bedrock of the educational system and emphasised that it needed to be given the attention it deserved.
The minister regretted that, based on what had occurred since independence, the system at that level had failed to perform as expected.
“The recent poor performance in meeting our commitments to the Millennium Development Goals adequately illustrates the extent of such a failure,” he said.
