As public outcry trailed the mass failure in the 2024 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME), the President’s Schools Debate Nigeria (PSDN) has pledged to promote a reading culture and academic excellence among Nigerian students.
The Chairman, PSDN, Usman Mohammed made this known at a news conference on Friday in Abuja.
Mohammed, represented by the National Coordinator, PSDN, Dare Oritu said that the organisation’s 24th edition of democracy debate, scheduled to hold in July would feature participation across all public primary and secondary schools in the country.
He pointed out that national debate would also promote harmony and inter-regional unity amongst the youth as well as advance democratic values in them at an early age.
“With over 70 per cent of candidates who sat for the just concluded UTME scoring less than 200 out of 400 obtainable scores, some analysts have attributed the cause on the dying reading culture among young ones,’: he said.
Mohammed urged Nigerian students to imbibe the culture of reading and explore the hidden treasures that lied in their books.
He said the debate is used to develop students’ practical skills and assist in improving their communication ability in English Language.
“The President’s Schools Debate Nigeria (PSDN) was approved in 2001 by former President Olusegun Obasanjo as a platform for organising school debate in Nigeria.
“And subsequent Presidents of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, thereafter, endorsed the programme in accordance with the 2001 approval and thus sustained it till date.
“The programme has been organised on an annual basis since then. It is thus our desire to employ the tenets of the programme to further the ‘Renewed Hope agenda’ of the present government, especially in the field of education, culture and effective national patriotism,” he said.
The programme, he said, was implemented in collaboration with the major players in the Nigerian education sector including the Federal Ministry of Education, Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC) and States Universal Basic Education Board.