Kogi State Commissioner for Education, Dr Agnes Okai, has said that students’ mass failure in  English Language and Mathematics is as a result of inconsistency in policies and challenges of implementation.

The commissioner stated this yesterday in Lokoja, during a youth summit on basic education, organised by a non-governmental organisation, Participation Initiative for Behavioural Change in Development (PIBCID) in collaboration with ActionAid Nigeria.

She noted that the education ministry is limited to policy formulation while implementation is undertaken by service outlets like the Teaching Service Commission (TSC) and the State Universal Basic Education Board (SUBEB).

The commissioner, who was represented by the Director, Education Support Services in the ministry, Matthias Okpanachi, also identified unqualified teachers and dearth of infrastructure and learning aids as factors responsible for failure.
Earlier,

Programme Manager of ActionAid Nigeria and Executive Director of PIBCID, Mr Victor Adejoh, drew the attention of participants to issues of alleged corruption in SUBEB, unqualified teachers and dearth of ICT centres in schools.

He suggested that government at all levels should invest more in basic education and ensure that quality, qualification and proficiency of teachers as well as training and re-training are not compromised.