“Education is the passport to the future, for tomorrow belongs to those who prepare for it today.”—Malcolm X When issues concerning the miseries afflicting the country’s education sector are tabled for discussion and analysis, one is oftentimes confronted with the argument that our predicaments stem from a lack of sound policies upon which it is built. While this column believes there are no absolute truths as there are no absolute untruths, thus agreeing that those predicating our educational woes on policy deficiencies may perhaps have some veracities in their claims, this column, arguing from a background in education is of the firm belief that the failings of our education has nothing to do with a lack of policy frameworks. From history, we recall with nostalgia the healthy, albeit fierce competition between the defunct regions—the western and eastern especially—that made up Nigeria. Having made education the kernel of his manifesto, the inimitable sage, Chief Obafemi Awolowo defied the very many naysayers within and outside of his party to launch a free and universal primary education in the western region. Not wanting to play second, his eastern counterpart, Nnamdi Azikiwe followed suit, setting the stage for a massive, comprehensive and audacious campaign against ignorance that unarguably was unprecedented not only in Nigeria but the entire continent of Africa. We cannot forget in a hurry the Dike and Banjo commissions. While the former was set up to look into the curriculum, organization and management of schools in the eastern region, the latter came into effect in the western region in 1960 to embark on a review of primary, secondary and teacher training programmes. Fifty eight years after, one observes that should both reports be collapsed into one and projected as a national document, their findings would be mistaken for an enquiry into the present. Professor Dike in 1959 found that the quality of teachers was abysmally poor, with schools lacking in basic equipment and resources. Archdeacon Banjo on his part wrote that classes were not only overcrowded but untrained and unqualified teachers litter the schools. I urge my audience to visit a publicly-owned primary or secondary school in any state of the federation to see for themselves how serious we took the findings of those men (including Lagos State where overrated, mediocre governors lord over). Perhaps the vivid overcrowding in schools and its attendant implications for teaching and learning prodded the government to adopt among others, a teacher-student ratio in its National Policy on Education (NPE). To those who are not conversant with the NPE, it is “a statement of intentions, expectations, goals, prescriptions, standards and requirements for quality education delivery in Nigeria.” A cursory look at the document from its very first edition in 1977 shows not only a clear and concise work but an ambitious and laudable one. If what obtains on paper guarantees success, the Nigerian education policy document would have taken us beyond the seven heavens. The document is so comprehensive that it caters for the needs of every citizen that could guarantee him/her a life of fruitfulness, advancing a set of philosophies aimed at conducing the goals of education to those set out for the nation: (a) a free and democratic society; (b) a just and egalitarian society; (c) a united, strong and self-reliant nation; (d) a great and dynamic economy; (e) a land full of bright opportunities for all citizens. To underscore the importance of relatively small class sizes as a sure way of ensuring qualitative education, the NPE proposed that teachers in crèche and nursery classes should not handle more than ten and twenty five children respectively. The document continued, noting that “for effective teaching and learning at the pre-primary level, the teacher-pupil ratio shall be 1:25”. A similar pattern is observed for other levels of schooling. 1:35 for primary and the junior secondary schools, 1:40 at the senior secondary, 1:20 in technical colleges in other to ensure “effective participation of students in practical works.” The tragedy in having untrained, unqualified and other impostors who have absolutely no business with a chalk lies at the foundation of the very many problems our education grapples with; it stands as the most visible nemesis to the deliberate and sustained efforts by all and sundry to elevate every course of study above teacher education. The 2018 UTME Statistics by Faculty paints a gory picture of the mess we are in, for we appear to have relegated teaching to the background, treating it as a plague amidst counterpart courses. Of the 1,558,686 candidates who opted for degree programmes, only 84,081 chose to become teachers—a mere 5.4%.