The Governor of Ebonyi State, Rt. Hon. Francis Nwifuru has said his administration is working hard to overhaul the education system in the state.
He maintained that the country’s universities and other higher institutions of learning should offer courses that are capable of “putting food on the tables of graduates” and make them self-reliant.
The governor stated this during an interview on Arise TV Morning Show, on Thursday, saying the society was no longer comfortable with graduates who could not fend for themselves because they were unskilled.
He said: “We are overhauling education in Ebonyi State. And when it comes to education, I believe in practical education. I’m a graduate of Building Technology, and in building technology, everything revolves around practicals.
“I believe that the kind of education we should venture into is the type of education that should put food on our table. it’s not when you are taken to the laboratory you won’t be able to analyse some chemicals or do separation technics.
“So it gives me a lot of worry, and that’s where I think we are getting it wrong. And so in Ebonyi State, we are overhauling the education system – from the secondary to the university level.
“The courses that our university must offer are courses that must put food on the tables of graduates of such disciplines. Severally, I have asked myself what are the job opportunities of many of the disciplines or courses our universities offer. There are no job opportunities because the society does not need many of the courses our people do today.
“Our society needs courses that can put food on our table, make our graduates skillfully positioned, make our graduates self-reliant, well equipped and self-employed. That’s what our society currently needs. I have told the vice-chancellor all this. When I graduated, I never looked for a job and that was what put me where I am today”.
