ASUSS Opposes Merging Of National Secondary Education Commission With Ministry, Says It Will Limit Mandate

By Ayodele Oni

The Academic Staff Union of Secondary Schools (ASUSS), has written to the Federal government on the planned move to merge the National Senior Secondary Education Commission (NSSEC) and demanded its preservation.

In a position paper of the union, signed by Samuel Omaji and Sola Adigun, ASUSS President and Secretary- General respectively, on the proposed merger of the National Senior Secondary Education Commission with the Federal Ministry of Education, the union pointed out that there is need for an autonomous Senior Secondary Education Commission to regulate, supervise and manage the operation of this level.

“National Commission for Polytechnics is for polytechnics, National Commission for Colleges of Education (NCCE) and National Commission for Universities (NUC) come to think of it, what is the sin of Senior Secondary Education that it is left without a commission.

“Therefore, merging of Senior Secondary Education Commission with any agency in the Federal Ministry of Education will limit its ability and capability to deliver the mandates effectively. It should be left as an independent commission to carry out her statutory mandates, Secondary.

“The recent proposal to merge NSSEC with an agency within the Federal Ministry of Education as suggested by Oransaye’s Report, is not just surprising and shocking, but a pointer to the low place education occupies in the heart of our Leaders.

“Oransaye’s Committee was constituted in 2011 and submitted its report to President Goodluck Jonathan’s government, while National Senior Secondary Education Commission was established by the government of President Muhammed Buhari in 2019. How did a Commission that was established in 2019, got into the Oransaye’s Report, but this is a question demanding a realistic answer.

“The fact that our Senior Secondary Education suffers poor funding, neglect, inadequate planning, decayed and dilapidated infrastructure, insufficient and poor remuneration teachers is no news anywhere in Nigeria.

“National Senior Secondary Education Commission (NSSEC) came to address these inadequacies to enhance qualitative and functional education, returning it to the Ministry of Education is as good as returning it to bureaucratic bottle-neck that will slow down the process.

“Quality and functionality is crying for attention in our education system. The National Senior Secondary Education Commission has taken this as a direct responsibility by enforcement of quality standards in teaching and learning process, appropriate curriculum development, training and retraining of teaching staff to keep them abreast with modern teaching techniques especially in the new world of ICT.

“NSSEC brought the autonomy of seniors Secondary Schools to light as they maintain and defend the characteristics of Senior Secondary Schools, they undertake effective policy formulation and the implementation of the same.

“National Senior Secondary Education Commission has already began the process of initiating intervention for the development of infrastructure and facilities in Schools just like the Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund) and Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC).

“Therefore, merging of Senior Secondary Education Commission with any agency in the Federal Ministry of Education will limit its ability and capability to deliver the mandates effectively.

“It should be left as an independent commission to carry out her statutory mandates, Secondary Education is the bridge between primary and tertiary education and should be allowed to be independently administered through statutory regulation.”