TO ensure that students that were given scholarships by the Education Trust Fund (ETF) to study abroad return home to impart the knowledge to better the country, it behoves on the organisation to monitor the awardees in their various institutions.These were the views of Mr. Abiodun Olaniran, an ETF scholarship awardee, who said that efforts were also made by some of the awardees to form an association that would help to ensure that the knowledge acquired by the students was used to help develop the country.He said: 'I want to really commend ETF for keeping faith with this initiative by ensuring that people are sponsor for their Masters and PHD degrees both locally and internationally and I think this is good for the expected change in the country's education system.Also before most of us left the country, ETF made us to sign a bond, which will ensure that the awardees return home to impart the knowledge they had acquired abroad on the country.'Continuing Olaniran said: 'The only thing I will advise the ETF is that there should be a sort of proper monitoring of students, because I would have expected ETF officials to visit the students in their various institutions to know how they are faring and progress in their studies. Aside this is that some of us who are beneficiaries are planning to form an association, which I am coordinating the UK chapter to ensure that when we return home, we organise collaborative research to ensure that we help in the education sector using our international network. Our hope is that this will have the backing of ETF.Olaniran, who is a lecturer at the Ladoke Akintola University (LAUTECH), Ogbomosho and a PHD student at Keele University in UK, however said that for Nigerian graduates to be at par with their foreign counterparts there must conscious efforts to review the school curriculum from the primary school to be in tandem with what obtains globally.'Why most of us graduates find it difficult to live up to expectation was because of our archaic school curriculum which is not at par with what obtains worldwide. So, for us to curb this negative trend there is need for the review of the school curriculum right from primary school. This review must be done to reflect what obtains globally in terms of development,' he said.In addition, the coordinator of the African Students Society at Keele University added that policy must also be formulated to ensure that ETF awardees are compelled to return home after their studies abroad, saying this would help the country to improve the country's development.He said: 'It is not only good those awardees of the ETF scholarships return home after their studies abroad, but they must be given opportunities to impart the knowledge they had acquired in foreign land on various facet of the economy. Most awardees prefer to stay back or return to their foreign land after their efforts to praticalise what they had leant on the country are being frustrated without any opportunity being given to them. So it is high time that the government looked into this so that the money spent on these students is ploughed back to the country in terms of knowledge impartment.
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