Dear Mr. Governor,
On behalf of Gombe State University of Science and Technology students, I would like to admire your necessary and wise steps in standardizing education in Gombe state.
Although, scaling the problems in our educational system is daunting, but the measures pointed out by His Excellency are an honest account of nearly all the problems that our state is facing.
Your efforts to improve the quality of basic education and the corrective measures you have taken to lessen the number of children out of school are highly commendable, but it is humbly suggested to focus on tertiary education as well. It is an ineluctable fact that a sustainable basic education system is impossible to achieve while neglecting the tertiary education.
Tertiary Education is considered very important for the uplift of basic education and the socio-economic development of a state. Prioritizing basic education at the expense of tertiary education will result in worse outcomes; therefore, it is solemnly advised that the utmost attention should be given to higher education.
The role of science and technology tertiary education is increasing day by day in the economic and social development and it will proceed for years to come. Science and technology tertiary education can be viewed as a focal factor of know-how and its application, a group that makes a tremendous contribution to increase through merchandising financial increase and innovation and improving more essential skills. It is viewed as a way to tackle predominant social and international challenges.
The future of Gombe State is with the development of this University of Science and Technology (GSUST KUMO) initiated by the immediate past administration of Dr. Ibrahim Hassan Dankwambo, especially the courses necessary for social and economic development of a state which are to be offered at Gombe State University of Science and Technology, Kumo.
For participating in the knowledge economy, the standing of tertiary and professional education is of great importance.
There is increased consciousness of how first the university’s position is in developing scientific know-how to understand the financial system and society. That position is solely anticipated to increase.
Higher education’s principal mission is to raise awareness of the solutions to the most critical problems facing society, including; the public health crisis, the hazardous environment, food security, the growing energy needs, and the Urbanization population.
For providing quality education, universities needed a huge budget which we believe you have set such aside for the tertiaries institutions in Gombe State. This budget is utilized in the projects of research and development to improve the quality of education. Also, many students are given need-based scholarships that cannot afford to pay their tuition fees. Unfortunately, the scholarships which are given to undergraduate students annually are not yet activated, as the students don’t have an idea when exactly they’ll return back to the classrooms to enjoy these scholarships in GSUST, due to the closure of the institution since the inauguration of a committee on the 24th of July 2019. This committee which was saddled with some responsibilities is yet to have its reports received by the state government, the responsibilities are as follows; To review the level of establishment of the institutions from inception till date, to assess the potentials and relevance or otherwise of the institutions to the state’s educational development, and to assess the viability & sustainability vis-a-vis the state’s financial status among others.
This is greatly affecting such students’ education career. Probably if this keeps going on, at one time they might relinquish their studies. Such students include about 200 candidates from the backlog of 2018 admission (among whom I belong) and over 3,000 qualified candidates that followed.
Therefore, we call on the Government to do the needful about the students’ scholarship as soon as possible.
Conclusively, it is believed that higher education plays a definite role in advancing democracy.
Simultaneously, tertiary Education at all tiers is an essential thing riding demand for democracy; higher Education, mainly, materials the noticeably educated humans required to run democratic institutions.
Therefore, more effort is required from the state government of Gombe for the enhancement of quality in both basic and tertiary education.
We shall be grateful if the State Governor of Gombe State acts equally regarding the basic and tertiary education with immediate effect as soon as possible for the good of the students as well as the state at large.
Omotayo is a student of GSUST, Kumo, he writes from Osun State.