Are you kidding me?

Does President Jonathan have advisors? Spin-doctors?

The man says some very strange things. He has just asked 1980s-era Minister of Education Babatunde "Babs" Fafunwa to apologize for the failure of the 6-3-3-4 educational system Prof. Fafunwa introduced.

Prof. Fafunwa's response? He says he has no reason to apologize.

What is interesting (and weird) about Jonathan's criticism is it isn't directed at Fafunwa's administrative or managerial skills. No, President Jonathan seems to be insisting that 6-3-3-4 failed because it is inherently a system that by its very nature is bound to fail. The President seems to be touting a new system, 9-3-4, which apparently, again by its inherent nature, will succeed (or so the President says).

For those of you in the rest of the world who have no idea what these numbers mean, 6-3-3-4 refers to 6 years of Primary School, 3 years of Junior Secondary, 3 years of Senior Secondary and 4 years of a tertiary/university first-degree (i.e. "Bachelor's") programme.

Presumably 9-3-4 will involve ... an extended Primary School period? Followed by 3 years of secondary, and you know the rest.

Lets talk like adults for a second.

Different countries in the world arrange the stages of their educational system, and the number of years assigned to each stage, differently. What makes a difference is the quality of education provided within those stages.

It is downright laughable to suggest 6-3-3-4 failed because it was 6-3-3-4, and that 9-3-4 will succeed because it is 9-3-4.

In fact, whatever it was in the administration of 6-3-3-4 that led to unsatisfactory outcomes will still be there in 9-3-4 if all you do is change around the numbers assigned to each stage, which is all the Jonathan Administration is proposing.

I personally like 6-3-3-4.

It makes sense.

We just have to make it work.

I am serious.

I am tired of this attitude.

They changed the name of the Organization of African Unity (OAU) to the African Union (AU).

They changed the name of the Federal Electoral Commission (FEDECO) to National Electoral Commission (NEC) to National Electoral Commission of Nigeria (NECON) to Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC). NEPA became PHCN. Green Eagles became Super Eagles.

But did anything substantive change?

No.

Can we just fix things, instead of renaming and/or rearranging the same exact thing, and then acting as if it is now different when it is still the same?

Keep 6-3-3-4.

There is NOTHING wrong with it. Just fix the education sector. That is all we are asking.

Haba.

Postscript: Professor Babatunde "Babs" Fafunwa died on the 11th of October, 2010. May his soul rest in perfect peace.