The Minister of Education, Olatunji Alausa, has said that the Federal Government will ensure Nigerian children stay in school.
He recently dismissed concerns about a potential strike by the Academic Staff Union of Universities.
Speaking on the sidelines of the Gender Inclusion Summit organized by the Policy Innovation Centre organised by the Policy Innovation Centre in Abuja, Olatunji revealed that the Federal Government is constantly engaging with ASUU to address all of its demands.
According to him, while he cannot disclose the full details of their private conversations, Nigerians should rest assured that the union will not go on strike anytime soon.
He stated that FG is also discussing with several trade unions to highlight and meet all of their needs.
“We will keep our children in school.
I will tell you, we are engaging. I told you we will deal with ASUU and other trade unions with the highest level of mutual respect.
We will continue to talk to them. I don’t want to come on TV to start talking about private conversations with them, but what I can assure you is that ASUU will not go on strike; we will keep our children in school,” he said.
He further emphasised the government’s efforts to improve the education sector, including the migration of West African Examinations Council and National Examinations Council exams to computer-based testing.
Olatunji Alausa concluded by saying that the CBT testing decision will help to reduce examination malpractices and enhance the quality of education.
“We believe that computer-based testing is one of the starting points to reduce examination malpractices in our country.
We need to use technology, we need to migrate our exams, WAEC and NECO, to computer-based. There was a lot of pushback. But then, we believe that is how we can; that’s one of the starting points to reduce examination malpractices in our country.
And let me tell you the danger of examination malpractices, you would disincentivise the hardworking students. And we have many more hardworking students than the fewer ones that are cheating. And that’s why we have moved quickly to implement the computer-based testing in WAEC and NECO.
And I am happy that by November this year, the WAEC exam that will be done in November, the objectives will be CBT, the essay will still be on paper, and the same thing with NECO. And by next year, both the objectives and the papers and the essays will all be CBT. As you do this, you’ll get the kids to study more, their cognition will get better, and they will be able to, the quality of their learning, of their preparation for exams will be higher, and they’ll be able to do better in life, make better life decisions, navigate their lives better,” he added.
