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The Kogi State commissioner for education, Sylvester
Onoja has called on the federal government to be careful with phasing
out Colleges of Education so as not to destroy the education sector.

Mr Onoja, who was the first northerner appointed
principal of the famous Kings College, Lagos said frequent changes of
policy have impacted negatively on the education sector as no fewer than
45 ministers had, since independence 50 years ago, headed the ministry
of education and introduced different policies.

The commissioner said these changes had all but
damaged the sector and called on the federal government to be careful in
matters of education.

While advising government not to scrap Colleges of
Education, Mr Onoja suggested that what is needed to improve teacher
education is an improvement in the quality of entrance requirement,
curriculum, teaching personnel and facilities as well as the quality of
decision making process.

Orphans

The commissioner lamented the absence of a regulatory
body for secondary schools in the country, as against other organs of
education and called on federal government to establish a commission for
secondary schools to regulate its curriculum and activities as,
according to him, “secondary schools in the country today is an orphan”.

Mr Onoja commended federal government’s plan to
establish more federal universities in the country, stressing that this
would further reduce the problem of admission been experienced in the
country.

The Minister of State for Education, Kenneth Gbagi
had, while inaugurating the technical committee on the establishment of
six new federal universities, hinted that the government was thinking of
either phasing out Colleges of Education or upgrading them to degree
awarding institutions.