LEDAP Calls For Promotion Of Basic Education Law In Kaduna State
Zainab Tanimu
Kaduna, Northwest Nigeria
Legal Defence And Assistance Project (LEDAP) a non governmental organization has called for promotion of children’s educational rights in the state.
This call was made at a media parley organized in Kaduna.
The fora which brought together various media practitioners to brainstorm on way forward looked into issues of great concerns with a view to finding solutions to grey areas with regards to the provision of free basic education for children in Kaduna state.
In her presentation titled, “An Overview of the Rights to Basic Education under International, Regional and Domestic Instrument, Barrister Laura Bismark, described education as a fundamental right of every child.
She said the UN acknowledges the fact that education is very vital to complementing all other goals. Thus the need to push for quality education.
Education is a platform for everything. It is a powerful tool to succeed.
Nigeria she said needs to prioritize education to be able to get there.
Barrister Laura argued that if only Nigerian leaders give education the needed recognition, the nation would have been able to rank high among other nations of the world.
Lamenting, “We have beautiful educational policies but the educational system is pitiful. We have structural problems of which all hands must be on deck to address it.”
Laura, speaking on the problems associated with the system, sighted the issue of implementation.
She said even where the policies are good, implementation of such policies becomes a problem. Adding that, some of these policies have no legal framework.
She identified such problems like that of not having data to work with, there is the issue of over reliance on foreign aids and when such aid does not come, it becomes a problem.
Also identified is the issue of corruption which hinders the implementation of policies on education.
There is need to hold our leaders accountable. She stressed.
Barrister Laura challenged the media to promote not just the girl child education but of every child.
Explaining the need to basic educational rights in Kaduna state, vis-vis the role of the media in ensuring and promoting it in the state, she advanced that by virtue of section 18 of 1999 Nigerian constitution together with section 15 of the UBEC Act, every child has the right to free basic education in Nigeria and in the state. It is an enforceable right under the constitution and UBEC Act. She stated.
Section 15(1) of the UBEC Act states: ” Every child has the right to free compulsory and universal basic education and it shall be the duty of the government in Nigeria to provide such education.
Likewise, Section 18 of 1999 Nigerian constitution provides for right to education in Nigeria.
It states:
The provision enjoins the government to direct its policy towards ensuring there are equal and adequate educational opportunities at all levels.
To further buttress this, is the fact that the judgement delivered by Hon. Justice J. T. Tsoho of the Federal High Court Abuja, on 15 March, 2017, where it was stated that parents, guardians civil society Organizations ( CSO’s) and human rights groups can now bring an action against the government for failing to make both primary and junior secondary education free for Nigerian children coupled with the Act enacted by the National Assembly spelt it out.
Based on the judgement, the people therefore have the right to hold government accountable. There is room to seek for redress when the child’s right to free and compulsory education is denied.
While acknowleding the enormous tasks of the media, Barrister Laura enjoined them to assist in educating the government, relevant stakeholders, parents/guidance as well as the public on their roles in ensuring objective and functional education for the children.
The components of the Universal Basic Education (UBE) comprising the pre- primary education, primary education and junior secondary school need to be built on a solid foundation. She emphasized.
The early childhood care development of a child’s education is very key and therefore should be taken seriously.
Laura described the media as the watchdog of the society and therefore should always be there to hold the government and every office holder accountable in the discharge of their responsibilities.
“As watchdogs, onus is on the media to safeguard the society from unwanted intrusions, the same way the watchdogs keep away unwanted people from the residence of their masters.
“In the same way dogs bark to raise the consciousness of their masters to impending danger, so also, journalists are expected to alert on impending dangers by pointing to violations and anomalies in the society.” The Barrister stressed.
Stressing further, there is need to advocate and push as media practitioners for the removal of educational Act from section 2 to section 4 of the constitution in the next constitutional amendment process for better result.
To ensure smooth implementation of the UBEC program, the media should follow the budget in its implementation and make critics where necessary.
They should also ensure government’s promise of quality teachers training. She added.
LEDAP in its call urges the media to ensure adequate advocacy to ensure that Kaduna state government commits resources to education through increased budget allocation and funding so as to ensure that no child is denied access to free basic education by any school.
It also call on the media to engage and focus on the activities of the government as well as ministries of education and justice of Kaduna state to priotise the right to education of the child in its agenda and to guarantee that no child in the state is denied access to free basic and quality education on the basis of background, sex or location etc
In another development, Legal Defence and Assistance Project, LEDAP in a press conference had commended the Kaduna State government’s efforts in its drive to advancing basic education in the state.
It however urged the government not to loss sight of the overwhelming goal of reducing the number of out -of -school
children in the state.
This was stated by the Programme Director, Legal Defence And Assistance Project (LEDAP), Pamela Okoroigwe while addressing members of the press.
It said in an effort to bridge the yawning gap in education in northern Nigeria, LEDAP with the support of Malala Fund has since 2018 been advocating for the implementation of the Universal Basic Education Act 2004 and increased access to free quality, safe basic education for children in 4 northern states who constitute the over13.5 million out – of – school children in Nigeria.
Speaking on behalf of the Programme Director, the Coordinator, Legal Defence And Assistance Project, Micheal Abeh said LEDAP has since the flagging off its awareness campaign on the right to free, safe compulsory and quality basic education supported government’s efforts in its project states to develop guidelines for the implementation of the UBE Act and state level laws where applicable.
It has also assisted in the review of educational policies in relevant states, trained education officials on the provision of the UBE Act. Not only that, it helped to develop advocacy tools such as the ‘right to education factsheet’ to draw critical attention to issues in the education sector.
LEDAP he said has garvanized support for the enrollment of over 2500 out- of – school in the project states.
Despite lauding the Kaduna state government’s efforts for investing in key education reforms which it said has yielded gains particularly in the areas of infrastructural development in public schools, there is the need to do more to increase enrolment and retention of children particularly the girl child in schools.
It applauded the state government’s ban on hawking as a way of reducing the menace of out- of – school children in the state.
However, there is still more expected to be done, if the state must get there.
“LEDAP reckons that the Kaduna state’s government ban on hawking as a measure of getting children of school age off the streets and the charge on the education marshals with the mandate of reducing traucy, notwithstanding, we cannot but urge the government to take further steps to evaluate the effectiveness of these volunteer Marshals, strengthen their mandate to discharge their duties, most importantly, implement the basic provisions of the UBE Act and eradicate all forms of hidden fees demanded by schools in the state”.
This it said will help to mitigate high dropout rate as well as in the long run sustain the gains made by both the state and development partners “such as LEDAP and Malala Fund.”
There is need for education officers and stakeholders to help advance the course of free basic education and government to commit more resources to education through increased budgeting and funding in a gender sensitive and inclusive manner. LEDAP stated.
