The Nigeria Union of Teachers (NUT) has urged the Federal Government to allocate 20 per cent of the annual national budget to the Education sector.
It said this would enable the nation to recover the learning it has lost and ensure restoration of quality education.
The union said this could be achieved if the government adopted progressive and efficient tax collection processes to generate resources.
NUT National President Audu Amba said these in Abuja at a global response workshop on privatisation and commercialisation of education in the country.
The workshop was organised by NUT in partnership with Education International (EI) and Friedrich Ebert Stiftung (FES).
The NUT President urged the government to give more attention to public schools through improved funding and sustenance of the public sector education.
He reiterated the union’s stand against the brazen attempt to legitimise profit-making in the provision of education.
Amba said such practice is antithetical to the quest, desire and commitment of the nation to provide free, inclusive and equitable quality education to all in line with Sustainable Development Goals (SDG 4).
The union leader urged public authorities, stakeholders and every Nigerian to stand up for quality public education and discourage privatisation and commercialisation that tends to undermine the right of children to quality education.
He advised that government should not abdicate its responsibility to regulate and monitor the operations of private providers based on set standards and human rights principles.
Amba stressed that the government must be alive to its obligation to guarantee the right to education by providing free, inclusive, equitable quality education for the benefit of the children and the citizenry.
He said: “Government should invest more in education by allocating the internationally recommended benchmarks of six per cent of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and 20 per cent of the national budget to education. This can be achieved if government adopts progressive and efficient tax collection processes to generate resources.
“International financing institutions and development partners should review their education financing policies in favour of public education rather than funding profit-making private ventures.”
Education Minister Adamu Adamu said the programme demonstrated the union’s concern about the quality of education in the country.
The minister, who was represented by the Registrar/Chief Executive of the Teachers Registration Council of Nigeria (TRCN), Prof. Segun Ajiboye, emphasised the need to increase the budget to the Education sector.
He urged the National Assembly to support the move with strong legislative backing.
“Commercialisation and privatisation of education is what all Nigerians should stand up against because education is the right of every child,” Adamu said.
