Educational Issues
Payment Of N75,000 Stipend For Education Students, A Misplacement Of Priority -By Aliyu Baba Mohammed
Education sector deserves life long investments and not this kind of partial stipends that will not keep the stakeholders in the field to practice after their studies. In fact, this policy is more of teaching the students how to eat fish instead of teaching them how to catch fish.
The APC administration under the leadership of president Muhammadu Buhari has engaged in a series of cash grant policies to certain individuals since assumption of office in 2015.
The programme (cash transfer) is being handled by the National Social Investment Programme aimed at assisting the poorest and the most vulnerable Nigerians across the states of the federation, including FCT.
The amount ranges from N5000 to N20,000 per person.
In the same vein, the government in October, 2021 announced its plans to pay the sum of N75,000 stipend to each of the students undergoing degree in Education in all the government owned universities in Nigeria; and N50,000 for each of the students under NCE program.
According to the justification given by the government, the initiative will attract the best brains into the teaching profession which will eventually yield a positive result in the education sector.
However, in my candid opinion in this situation, the government’s attention on students undergoing education courses is a serious misplacement of priority, because this is not where the problem lies. After all, the students never give financial complaints of any sort concerning their ability to scale through their courses of study in the universities and colleges of education.
What is the essence of investing in someone to undergo a course of study he/she might not have the passion to practice after the graduation?
The problem is not in the studying of educational courses but what follows after the studying is completed (field of practice). As such, it is the “teaching profession” that the government should have prioritized and makes it attractive beyond what is obtainable currently.
In this case, give priority to the “teachers in practice” in such a way that every student at all levels of education will wish to be a ‘teacher’ the way and manner he/she will wish to be a lawyer, an engineer, a doctor, or a pilot. This way, parents/guardians and their children will automatically develop interest to study educational courses no matter the costs and what it takes.
Education sector deserves life long investments and not this kind of partial stipends that will not keep the stakeholders in the field to practice after their studies. In fact, this policy is more of teaching the students how to eat fish instead of teaching them how to catch fish.
Mind you, this same government that is coming with this propagandized policy has kept the students at home for more than six months now, and it is still counting. This is happening because of its failure to meet the legitimate financial demands of the university teachers’ union (ASUU). Can you see the high level of hypocrisy and misplacement of priority?
It is better to make the house attractive than to make the road that leads to the house attractive. Because if the house is in order, people will take even inaccessible roads to access the house. A smooth road can actually attract people to the house, but they will leave if they find the house to be rough.
Therefore, it won’t be a bad idea if the government will rethink its stance on this policy and channel these resources to the appropriate quota. Give the teachers the sense of pride of teachership in the society and you will see people trooping into the teaching profession. So, Let this deceptive kind of policies stop now!
Aliyu Baba Mohammed is a student of Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria.
He writes from Kaduna, Nigeria.
He can be reached via: aliyu0380@gmail.com
