By Boluwaji Obahopo, Lokoja

The Executive Secretary, Kogi State Universal Basic Educa-tion, SUBEB, Mallam Nuhu Ahmed has said that the change mantra of the Federal Government will amount to nullity if the quality of teachers in the educational sector is not enhanced. Ahmed stated this yesterday in Lokoja at a five-days training for quality assurance officers organised by the Universal Basic Educa-tion Commission, UBEC and the state SUBEB with the theme: “Strength-ening the Capacity of Quality Assurance officers for Improved Quality Delivery”.

According to him, “Nigeria cannot developed without quality education. The quality of our education will determined the quality of our country, and the quality of our basic education will form the bedrock of the educational output of the country.

“The dream of a change in Nigeria will be a mirage if their are no quality teachers in the schools. The need for qualitative basic education delivery must be intensified by the government because without quality teachers there cannot be quality product amongst the students.

“Our teachers also should stop blaming government but make themselves  better and quality persons that will impact positively on the students to enhance the level of education in the country. We (teachers) have a lot of work to do in our quality assurance operations. It is hoped that you (teachers) have all prepared yourselves appropriately for the great task”.

UBEC Executive Secretary, Dr. Dikko Suleiman on his own, said the standard of education has not fallen but the quality of product was what was missing in the educational sector, “The requirement of five credits including maths and English for admission into tertiary institutes has not changed, what has changed is the quality of those students and how they obtain their result.

“Assuring quality is a major challenge in our basic education system, this is largely due to the incidence of infrastructural decay, declining standards as well as   maladministration. Other challenges include limited synergy among relevant stakeholders and departments resulting in institutional constraints and role conflict, scarcity of current and reliable data on quality issues and low learning outcomes in literacy, numeracy and life skills.”