OVERHAULING OF THE NATION’S UNITY SCHOOLS ADVOCATED

A University lecturer, Doctor Anthonia Egbo has called for the overhauling of the nation’s Unity Schools to achieve the purpose of its establishment of  fostering unity and providing quality education among Nigerian children.

Dr. Egbo who made the call while contributing to Media Link, a Radio Nigeria Enugu Live Interactive Programme expressed regret that the standard and operational management of the Unity schools had declined. Dr. Egbo said unless government intensified efforts in funding and  monitoring of the schools, the end result would be disastrous to the nation’s education system.

‘’A lot of things will be done to get things bounce back again. One of them is funding. So money has to be pumped into the system, but  there must be close monitoring to make sure that the funds are being used for the purpose they are meant for. For instance, in terms of feeding these children, if you buy food stuff and you don’t monitor how they were being used, some people can take them home.’’

Another guest on the programme, Mr. Tony Nwachukwu maintained that the entire operation of the schools such as mode of admission, attitude of staff and quality of meals must be looked into to achieve utmost performance.

‘’We don’t have the right personnel to manage these schools and some of them team to take advantage of these children. So we need to look at the law, review everything about the establishment of Unity school and then re-model it to suit today’s educational needs.’’

Callers on the programme also agreed that urgent measures needed to be taken to restore the glory of the unity schools and called for re-enforcement of Guidance and Counseling  for proper training of the students.

OBINNA OGBUKA