During the inauguration of his government on May 29, 2011, Governor Rochas Okorocha hinted Imo indigenes of his plans to embark on free education policy in the state. Although he promised to run it from primary to University level; at the initial stage, it was apparent that the government had not actually made up its mind on the coloration of the policy. Lack of policy design and direction inherent in the plan was instantly recognizable.
The government was at that stage unsure whether it wanted full blown free education that involved all Imo indigenes in all tertiary institutions in the country or only those schooling in the higher institutions in the state. The government was also at a loss whether the free education meant taking full responsibility of tuition fees of students in the higher institutions and other educational tools or simply providing part payment of the tuition fees.
The above realization thus brought to fore the ad hoc and indeterminate nature of the free education policy and several other policies of Governor Okorocha’s Administration namely, lacking in legal and legislative frameworks. This development accordingly has spawned deceit, fraud and faulty implementation of the exercise and unprecedented deterioration of standard of education in the state. These observations have been captured in graphic details in the later part of this article.
Sorry, there are no polls available at the moment.However, when Okorocha was ready to commence the implementation of the so-called free education he started by jerking up the school fees paid by students in Imo State University from N55,000 to N120,000, representing a whopping 110 percent increase. Not a few Imolites hence wrote him off on this deceitful start. He followed the trickery up by issuing a cheque of N100, 000 to the students in the name of free education and compelling them to pay a complementary sum of N20, 000 including the cheque into a designated account that does not belong to the University. This turned out to be fraud number one.
The overt deceptions here are manifold. Why the large scale increase in school fees at a point the purported free education was to commence? Why issuing students cheque when the exercise can be conducted on a blank sheet? Why asking students to make a part payment when the exercise is named free education? Who owns the account the cheque and the part payment are deposited in to?
Okorocha’s government has since clarified that the scope of the so-called free education ranges with higher institutions owned by the state. The implication is that only students in Imo State University and Imo State Polytechnic Umuagwo representing less than 10 percent have the legitimacy to benefiting from the exercise. This is indicative of one of the major flaws of the exercise. What is then the fate of our students in other higher institutions outside Imo state?
As a response to this façade, Imo indigenes attending higher institutions that are not owned by the state have on a number of times taken to the streets to protest the exercise branding it exclusionist and unjust. The students have rather opted for bursary allowance that would have the propensity to touch larger percentage of Imo students’ population. And they are right; for equity, fairness and enhanced results
Given the jaundiced manner the exercise is being implemented it has impacted too negatively on the state’s overall educational system, plummeting the standard of scholarship abysmally at higher and lower education levels. Many instances suffice here.
Take Imo state University as a case study. Prior to the introduction of the so-called free education, verifiable record shows that the University ranked the tenth best University in Nigeria and the best State University in the country. Virtually all the courses offered by the University were accredited by the National Universities Commission (NUC).
Since the advent of the so-called free education, the University’s remarkable record has been obliterated and woeful. Imo State University now ranks the 80th in the country, away from 10th position. Contrary to the first position it ranked among state Universities pre-Okorocha, currently it ranks among the worst ten
Similarly, the courses offered in Imo state University have also suffered abysmally. Over 10 departments in Education Faculty recently failed NUC test and were accordingly de-accredited. Most regrettable is the Law Faculty that used to produce the best candidates in the Nigeria Law School also lost NUC accreditation, including Sociology Department.
The trend is such that more departments are likely going to lose their accreditation if urgent intervention is not put in place by the state government or a new government voted in to correct the anomalies. Then witness the anomaly. Since the introduction of the so-called free education, Imo State University’s budgetary allocation has hardly covers workers salary and over head costs. No fund has ever been provided for educational tools, facilities and equipment and even to run the departments. Students are thus forced to provide chalks and a few other basic things for learning.
The result was when NUC came for accreditation, many courses suffering from the strains of dilapidated facilities were shut down. But prior to Okorocha’s jaded policy, the University authorities used school fees paid by the students to augment government’s subvention and thus were able to keep the school afloat, a development that made it to rank among the best in the country
The secondary schools unfortunately are even worse state. Three years of poor facility funding and inadequate staffing of schools have resulted in the plummeting of the standard of education to its lowest ebb. Imo state now records 46 percent overall performances in external examinations as against 70 to 80 percent pre-Okorocha administration
Under Okorocha verifiable facts indicate rather scandalously that the 548 schools in the state boast of only 87 Mathematics teachers, 130 English teachers, 92 Chemistry teachers and 113 Physics instructors. Need we say more on why standard of education has declined shamefully?
Hon Emeka Ihedioha, the People’s Democratic Party guber candidate in the February, 28 general election has promised on a number of times to correct all anomalies of Okorocha’s administration if elected. He has gone ahead to provide a framework on how to ensure free qualitative education in the state thereby restoring lost glory and values in the education system which is the mainstay of the state. This indeed makes it politically imperative for Imo people to give him a genuine chance to forestall Okorocha administration’s seeming disposition to bury one of the surviving heritage of Imo- EDUCATION.
Dr. Uganwa, wrote from Owerri, Imo state
