Professor of History and Policy of Education in the Department of History and International Diplomacy, Faculty of Humanities at the Rivers State University (RSU), Port Harcourt Rivers State, Prof. Amakievi Okien Ijeoma Gabriel, has advocated for the building and construction of Barges and House Boats for use as classrooms for the education of children in the riverine communities in the Niger Delta.
Delivering the 114 Innaugural Lecture series of the University tittled; Hindsight As Foresight: Unwinding The Path to Educational Development In Twenty First Century Nigeria; Prof. Ijeoma Gabriel lamented that children of residents in waterfronts in the interior communities in the Niger Delta lacked access to education due to non availability of nearby schools adding that the designing and modeling of Barges and House Boats as classrooms would enable children in those areas to go to schools close to them.
The Prof of History and Policy of Education called for the establishment of education for fishermen and children residing in the Creeks and waterfronts in the Niger Delta stating that since the Nigeria Government provides funding for the nomadic education in herdsmen in the country, such should also be provided for fishermen in the Creeks of the Niger Delta.
According to the Lecturer, the Nigerian government at all levels must begin to think outside the box to ensure that the nation’s educational system alligns with the 21st century educational standards, emphasing the need for inclusive education system that makes provision for all children including those in the rural areas of the country to have unfettered access to education.
She expressed dismay at the deplorable state of infrastructure in many schools especially in the rural areas of the country, citing the instance of Oyokotoro Community, a fishing settlement in the Andoni local government area of Rivers State, where, according to her, children in the area have been deprived of conducive learning environment due to the poor state of the only available primary school in the area.
The Lecturer lamented that Nigerian children may become educationally disadvantaged if the government failed to adequately fund education to ensure that Nigerian children compete with their counterparts in the period of globalisation. “This is 21st century and this children are supposed to interact and communicate with other counterparts in this period of globalisation in other nations,” she stated.
She equally called for attention to be paid on special education to ensure that children with disability get access to education stressing the need to provide learning aids and other equipment in schools to cater for the blind and dumb in the society.
The University don who advocated for better remunerations and training for teachers at all levels of education in the country, however regretted that some state Governments have limited the proper education of children in their States due to their inability to adequately pay their teaching staff and failure to pay their state counterpart funding for the upgrade of education in the states. Prof Gabriel who has spent over 39 years in the state university, acknowledged the growth of private Investments in the education sector in the country, however decried the high school fees charged by the privately owned schools adding that many parents cannot afford the fees structures in the Institutions.
“The Government has allowed both the private and public Institution to coexist to give options to everybody. Government cannot do it all. I call on parents to give birth to children that they can train and give good care, the Lecturer stated.
