President of the United Nations General Assembly (PGA), Amb. Tijani Muhammad-Bande, on Monday in New York, decried the engagement of untrained teachers in many schools around the world.
Muhammad-Bande, who spoke at the opening session of the 2020 Annual Parliamentary Hearing at the UN Headquarters, described the trend as worrisome, and called for investment in teacher training.
According to him, the use of unqualified teachers in schools is a threat to Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 4, which borders on quality education.
“We must invest in teacher training in order to provide students with the highest quality education.
“The current trend of having untrained teachers in many schools is worrying. I call on all Member States to provide quality training for trainee teachers,’’ he said.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the event is tagged “Education as a Key to Peace and Sustainable Development: Toward the Implementation of SDG 4’’.
The programme is at the instance of the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU), an organisation of lawmakers from 178 countries that aims to promote democracy and inter-parliamentary dialogue.
He said that the SDG4 was one of his key priorities, adding that it must be approached as a “stand-alone and cross-cutting goal to ensure a peaceful and prosperous world for all’’.
Muhammad-Bande, who is Nigeria’s Ambassador to the UN, highlighted other issues critical to the provision of quality education, including funding, security, gender parity and curriculum development.
He said at least one in four countries did not meet the SDG4 funding benchmarks set in 2015.
The benchmarks require countries to allocate no fewer than four per cent of their Gross Domestic Products (GDP) and 15 per cent of their annual budgets to education.
“Parliaments have a major role to play in scaling up action in this vital area.
“I urge you to ensure that adequate financial resources are allocated to education, girls’ education and technical and vocational training throughout your national budgetary processes.
“If we are to address the learning crisis and for students to meet the minimum levels of literacy and basic proficiency in mathematics globally, we must invest in our people, in particular our youth,’’ he said.
Muhammad-Bande underscored the need for countries to provide a safe learning environment free from bullying for students.
He called on the member states to provide adequate sanitation facilities and clean running water, safe paths to school, electricity, and Internet connectivity.
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