Mr. Fela Bank-Olemoh, Senior Special Assistant to the President on Education Intervention, says education is the foundation of any society.

Bank-Olemoh, who said this on Thursday, during the Kwara Education Futures Summit in Ilorin, said that education was responsible for the economic, social, political growth, and development of society in general.

He quoted Albert Einstein as saying: “We can’t solve problems by using the same kind of thinking we used when we created them”.

The official said that the thread of the growth of any society was a function of the quality of education that was being imparted.

“For the state to improve her education outcomes, it must solve the problem of a large number of out-of-school children, weak governance, and ineffective implementation of policies and plans.

“Lack of transparency and accountability, problem of untrained, unpaid and over-stretched teachers, as well as increase in the population of unemployed youths with no skills,” he said.

Bank-Olemoh said that Awolowo’s Free Education Scheme in Western Nigeria (1952-1966) was a first-of-its-kind approach to solving education problems.

He said that Awolowo presented the proposal in 1952, but was implemented in 1955, three years after, and 40 percent of the region’s annual budget was devoted to the scheme.

The expert however identified three factors that affected all governments as inadequate resources, politics of governance, and legacy.

He said that to restructure education in Kwara, we cannot just tweak the system; the solution must be bold, innovative, and revolutionary.

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“Though we cannot solve all our education challenges, we have to make tough decisions,” he said.

Bank-Olemoh said that to restructure education in Kwara, three things must be put in place, including private sector partnership, EdTech Solution, and workforce employability.

He said that government must be close enough to the private sector and the government must be ready to put the interest of the state above theirs.