No doubt, education develops the mind.
With it, people acquire knowledge, experience and the capability to conquer poverty, ignorance and diseases.
However, the sector in the country has undergone many changes since the attainment of political freedom from the British colonialists exactly 54 years ago today.
The period shortly after independence marked the glorious years in the sector. The
prevalent indices then pointed to a bright future for the country as it produced well-rounded manpower, which the country’s
socio-economic and technological advancement relied on.
The period witnessed a strong school system, adequate funding of the few available public schools, well-equipped
science laboratories and libraries, as well as an environment conducive for learning and teaching.
The system also enjoyed steady academic calendar at all levels just as the few tertiary
institutions around enjoyed reasonable level of academic freedom and robust students’
unionism.
The decade that followed the first military rule signaled the beginning of the decay in the sector. The period marked one of the deciding factors that led to the destruction of the legacies of the independence years.
The policy changes and disregard for intellectualism by the successive regimes, especially during the military era led largely to various social ills that are still confronting the sector today.
“That is true, especially after the Civil War, when there was so much money circulating and people could get much of it without working hard,” said Professor Olaoye Tomori, the President of Nigerian Academy
of Science. “From there, education began to suffer neglect.”
Consequently, according to observers, the country started experiencing brain drain,
interrupted academic calendar, decaying infrastructures, mass failure in public exams, workers’ strikes, disregard for teaching job, destruction of public school
system, parents’ neglect and cultism.
However, the importance of quality education has pointed to the fact that no country can grow beyond its literacy level.
Sadly, Nigeria’s literacy level is far below the international standard, which UNESCO puts at 81 per cent of the country’s total
population. As at 2010, the adults’ literacy rate, according to the National Bureau of
Statistics, NBS, was 57 per cent.
The situation is worse in the northern part and some eastern states of the country, where
fewer school age girls enrol in schools compared to their male counterparts due to social-cultural beliefs and economic
limitation.
Similarly, school age children generally flood the streets, especially in the cities, during school hours engaging in one menial jobs or trading.
Although, Nigeria, just like many other countries around the world, considers education to be a fundamental right of every
child, the implementation of such law by appropriate authorities has remained a
challenge.
Another problem is about the quality of school teachers. Experts believe that quality of graduates produced is a direct function of quality of their teachers. A good teacher for
instance, must be able to simplify every aspect of the language for his students to
perform well in an exam and other areas of life, but this is lacking in most of our schools.
The declaration by President Goodluck Jonathan at a public forum sometime ago that more than half of all the lecturers in the nation’s universities were not qualified to be there is a pointer to this fact..
This situation is similar at lower levels. Some primary and secondary schools, especially those owned by individuals
employ people who never trained to be teachers. The implication of this is that
many of the students who come out under their tutelage could neither speak nor write simple and correct grammar.
The sector is also known for poor funding. Over the years, government’s investment on
education is below the one that can drive the system to appreciable heights.
While the Federal Government’s yearly allocation is below 20 per cent of the total budget against the international standard,which requires for more percentage, it is lower for many state governments, the situation that has been pitching the various
school workers’ unions against the government.
Even unlike before when tertiary institutions relied on government subvention, the current situation is that many of them would have closed down if not for the intervention of the
Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund).
This practice is contrary to the original
complimentary financial role the agency was
meant to perform at inception.
Another serious challenge is the poor
infrastructural facilities in terms of physical
structure and instructional materials most of
the schools at all levels. There are
situations where students, especially in the
north, still have their lessons under trees
just because of the inadequacy of
classrooms. Where there are classrooms,
they are overcrowded and stuffy and this
prevents free movement of teachers and
students when the need arises.
There is a world standard on this, which
UNESCO puts at ratio one teacher to 40
students maximum for effective
communication in class. But there are many
schools even in Lagos, which prides itself a
model for others, including the Federal
Government, that parade more than 80
students in a classroom.
The situation is not better off at the tertiary
level. Lectures are still holding at sport
arenas. Students are not only queuing for
water for several hours, they experience
blackouts for days. In some hostels
especially those of the first generation
universities, more than 10 students are
stayed in a room officially meant four
occupants. Most libraries and laboratories
are also poorly-equipped even as corruption
and examination malpractice thrive in
campuses.
These are just a few of the problems that
are still staying with the sector 54 years
after independence.
However, there are still some achievements
recorded in the sector.
“But this was more mostly in the first two
decades after independence,” as Professor
Tomori, who is also a former Vice-
Chancellor of the Redeemers’ University,
Mowe, Ogun State, pointed out.
According to him, the government then had
a defined purpose for education, the
teachers had a calling for teaching, the
parents appreciated it while the students
showed commensurable diligence.
There some other achievements recorded in
the sector, according to the South-West
Coordinator, National Parent-Teacher
Association of Nigeria, NPAN, Deacon
Olusoji Adams “but generally, the progress
is not commensurable to the age of the
country as an independent nation.”
While Olusoji scored the sector 54 per cent
with one per cent representing each year,
he explained that when the system viewed
on a global perspective, the country does
not present the worst case scenario in terms
of quality.
Similarly, just last week, the National Bureau
of Statistics came up with a shocking report
that education sector accounts for 50 per
cent of the total work force in the formal
sector in the first half of the year.
The implication of this is that half of the
economically engaged Nigerians are
absorbed by the sector. This is a sterling
achievement in the face of high
unemployment and poverty level in the
country.
At independence, there was only the
University College (now University of Ibadan)
in the entire country but as at today, the
country has 129 universities and several
polytechnics and colleges of education
spread across the country. This
development has greatly increased access
to tertiary education in the land.
The nation’s literacy level has also
improved significantly. School enrollment at
independent was around two million
children but the figure has jumped to over
20 million, including those in the Almajiri
schools in the northern part.
“This is not where we should be by now,”
Tomori observed. “But something can still
be done to revamp the system by using
holistic approach.”
For him, “This is simply by returning to
basics holistically. To now starting
education in the schools is already too late.
It has to begin at home, with parents laying
the foundation discipline, and schools
supporting it with the pillars of loyalty,
integrity, faithfulness and excellence.”
There is also the need for government to
make adequate budget for the sector as this
will arrest to a large extent, the decaying
infrastructures at all levels.
Olusoji also suggested some measures that
can drive the sector forward. He advocated
the setting up of a mechanism whereby the
school administrators would be held
accountable for their activities.
The teachers should also be well-
remunerated and provided with good
conditions of service, not only to make them
more committed, but also to attract best
brains into the system. Government should
equally honour all the existing agreements
with various school workers from primary to
the university. Incessant strikes by school
workers across tiers in the last two decades
have done nothing than incalculable damage
to the system.
The teachers, students, parents and other
stakeholders, on their part, should also
ensure they contribute their own quotas to
the development of the sector and make it
globally competitive.
Culled from National Mirror Newspaper
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