Qualifying exams for aspiring school principals

The Supervising Minister of Education,
Chief Ezenwo Nyesom Wike, recently
disclosed that all applicants seeking
appointment as principals of Unity Schools
will henceforth take compulsory qualifying
examinations to establish their
competence and managerial skills before
they are appointed.
While we appreciate the need to
determine the competence of teachers
who have put in many years of service
before they are promoted to the office of
principal, it is pertinent to ask the
following questions: Has the Ministry of
Education been training teachers in its
employ on managerial skills in which it
intends to examine those aspiring to
become principals? If this is not the case,
will the ministry arrange courses on
managerial skills for the aspiring principals
before they are examined? Or, are they to
be examined on educational
administration theories learnt in the
universities probably 15 to 20 years
earlier? What is the guarantee that the
examinations would not be politicized by
the corrupt civil service bureaucracy that
selfishly undermines lofty policies?
We ask these questions because of the
possibility of the manipulation of this
new examination requirement to
undermine seniority and other current
criteria  used to determine the selection
of principals, to promote less qualified
persons on political and other
considerations.
We do not, to all intents and purposes,
see the exigency for this evaluative test
at this time that the educational sector is
in dire straits. The least of our needs now
is the conduct of pre-appointment
examinations for potential Unity School
principals. What should be on the front
burner at this time is the lingering strike
by members of the Academic Staff Union
of Universities (ASUU) and other
imminent work stoppages by some
educational associations such as the
Senior Staff Association of Nigerian
Universities (SSANU) and the Colleges of
Education Association of Staff Unions. The
implication of all these strikes and threats
of strikes is that there may be paralysis of
education in the country in the weeks
ahead if there is no urgent intervention to
stem the trend.
The minister should be thinking of quick
solutions to these problems to end the
disenchantment that appears to have
engulfed the entire teaching and learning
process at the tertiary education level.
This is more important than any novel
tests for aspiring Unity School principals.
Nigeria cannot leave basic challenges in
the education sector and be trifling with
esoteric ideas that can have no impact on
the glaring problems staring the sector in
the face. Once we get our educational
aspirations and plans right, other
tangential things will naturally fall in
place. The administration, funding and
autonomy of citadels of learning must be
addressed squarely before we can begin
to talk of other associated issues that are
not as fundamental as the current
contentions.
There is no doubt that principals, like
professionals in other callings, need
honing of skills and updating of their
management proficiency, but it must be a
deliberate, planned and sustainable
package that will ultimately improve their
competence and rub off on the entire
system.
We advise the education authorities to
make training and upgrading of the skills
of teachers and educational
administrators a regular exercise. If any
deficiencies have been noticed in the
present crop of Unity School principals,
the ministry should arrange re-training
and refresher courses for them, to keep
them abreast of latest developments in
their field. Those who are found to be
irredeemably incompetent should be
relieved of the office.
The plan to subject aspiring principals to
examinations gives the impression that
the potential principals do not have any
idea about these professional issues. That
is utterly wrong because the aspirants to
that office are mostly university graduates
with qualifications in education who have,
in most cases, worked for about 15 years
as school teachers, and would have been
subjected to annual assessments over the
years which could be used to determine
their suitability for the office in question.
In his capacity as the supervising Minister
of Education, Wike should enhance efforts
aimed at getting ASUU members back to
work. That is the greatest challenge facing
the country now because the elongation
of the strike by university teachers has
the capacity to undermine the
developmental efforts of this government
and expose parents, guardians, their
children and wards to concomitant
dangers that trail this kind of disruption of
academic studies. It is unacceptable that
ASUU has been on strike since July 1,
2013! The socio-economic implications of
this instability are too far-reaching. An
amicable solution must be found to this
problem immediately.
Let Wike address this serious problem
before propounding utopian theories on
the selection of school principals.  We
cannot be chasing shadows and toying
with weird propositions like examinations
for principals of Unity Schools when there
are burning issues calling for urgent
attention in the education sector.