The president spoke on the first day of an education summit in Abuja.
President Goodluck Jonathan on Tuesday called for the review of the nation's 40-year-old education policy to ensure the speedy transformation of the nation's education sector.
Mr. Jonathan said in Abuja while declaring open the 20th Nigerian Economic Summit that the review was to determine the policy's relevance and fine tune its adaptability to national objectives.
Represented by Vice President Namadi Sambo, Mr. Jonathan charged the participants to consider past reform efforts to determine the best and most effective ways to overcome education sector challenges.
"You may recall that the policy underpinning the education sector in Nigeria was agreed in 1969 at a national dialogue involving a wide-array of stakeholders in the Nigerian project.
"More than 40 years after, this policy foundation is ripe for review, to determine its relevance and fine tune its adaptability to national objectives, in this 21st Century.
"It is my hope that this summit will take up this challenge by applying itself rigorously to the design of an ideal education system that will satisfy our national needs and aspirations," he said.
The president said the federal government is aware that the country's growth and development potential will be undermined unless the education sector is fully developed. He said there was urgent need to develop human capital by investing and improving the skills of the nation's manpower to facilitate the actualisation of national objectives.
He said the Federal Government was committed to embarking on sustainable initiatives and programmes that would restructure and transform the national economy and education system.
"Education is a vital key for accelerating national transformation and development.
"Education has changed the destiny of nations, big and small, and we are determined to change our story for the very best.''
He said government had identified access, quality and equity as the main strategic goals of Nigerian education.
The President, therefore, said the populace, particularly children, should not only have unfettered access to education but also receive quality education. He said government had launched "a Basic Education campaign that targets the unacceptability of the high number of out-of-school children.
"These include the high rate among boys in the South-East and South-South, which is also the case in our girls in the North-East and North-West.''
The President said the problem was also replicated in the Almajiris system, where under an expanded intervention scheme government had established 125 Day and Boarding Junior Secondary Schools.
He said the schools, located in different parts of the country, were meant to increase access to quality education for the beneficiaries.
"We are convinced that only through quality teachers can quality in education and students at all levels be assured.
"We have been paying more attention to the training, retraining, recruitment and improving the working conditions of our teachers in the public school system,'' he said.
Mr. Jonathan also revealed that government had embarked on funding teachers' training in the 36 states of the federation in pursuit of quality, access, and equity in education delivery.
He said government had introduced initiatives to address the low capacity of the nation's educational institutions.
He said although funding the education sector sufficiently had remained a challenge in the face of competing demands, "government is, however, addressing this challenge with great determination, through Presidential interventions.''
According to him, the interventions include the Technical Education Trust Fund, the Universal Basic Education Commission interventions, and through creative partnerships with local and international development partners.
Mr. Jonathan said he was delighted at the partnership between the state governments and the Federal Government towards the transformation of the education sector. He said government also welcomed the strong desire by the private sector and other stakeholders to participate actively in the delivery of education.
"All of us, parents, community organisations, profit and non-profit entities, have a role to play in ensuring that our children are trained to be innovative, creative and globally competitive," Mr. Jonathan said.
The President, who expressed reservation over lack of accurate statistics on school enrolments and other education indices, called on the participants of the Summit to provide solutions in those specific areas.
"Let me reiterate that accurate statistics on our school enrolments, and other education indices, especially at the Basic and Secondary levels remains a very serious challenge.
"It is necessary that we get the numbers right to aid successful planning and decision-making," he said.
He restated the government's commitment to due consideration and implementation of viable recommendations from the Summit.
The Supervising Minister of Education, Nyesom Wike, delivered a lead paper entitled Transforming Education in Nigeria: Implications for the Future at the summit.
He said the Federal Ministry of Education had developed a Road Map on repositioning the education sector.
The Summit, with the theme "Transforming Education through Partnership for Global Competitiveness," attracted participants from within and outside the country.
(NAN)
Jonathan wants review of Nigeria's education policy.
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