The Minister of State for Education, Barrister Ezenwo Nyeson Wike has said that the Ministry of Education at the Federal level will begin enforcing the penal provisions of the universal Basic Education (U.B.E) Act against parents who deny their children the right to basic education. The Minister lamented that a portion of Nigeria’s population is still illiterate, and that the current national adult literacy rate is estimated at 56.9 percent. The Minister’s threat to throw the law against parents and guardians who violate the requirement that all Nigerian children must attend schools until the end of secondary education will sound like a tired refrain. Most Nigerians would have preferred to hear that government has found a more effective strategy to ensure that more children go to school than the use of threats.
The introduction of the Universal Primary Education (UPE) in the 1970s, and its re-introduction in the last few years were welcome as bold policy initiatives that will build a solid foundation for a strong, united and prosperous nation through the provision of quality and free education to its youth. The Universal Primary Education, vastly increased the number of Nigerian children who attended schools. It expanded the number of classrooms, and recruited and trained more teachers. Expenditure on public education was expanded, and UPE schools churned out millions of school leavers. The problem was that the products of the UPE schools were poorly educated, and they were unprepared for anything else in life other than aspiring to proceed to higher levels of education. Those however, were not available on the scales required, and most of the UPE products did not have entry requirements. This was despite the massive expansion of tertiary education and opportunities for teacher education. The overall result was that the UPE programme turned out millions of young Nigerians whose education was too poor for higher education, and too inadequate for employment in an economy increasingly available only to skilled personnel. The ranks of the unemployed and underemployed young people grew, and agriculture in particular suffered because it lost potential hands to urban areas where young people became involved in petty trade or craft, or petty theft.
After two decades of experimentation, many parents became reluctant to send their children to government schools. Many parents had resisted anyway, choosing instead to send millions of children to almajirci schools where they believed they at least had a chance to learn their ways into heaven in the hereafter. Others preferred to keep children at home to learn petty trades and skills, because at least the training gave them a better chance to live productive lives as adults than children who went to schools that gave them neither education nor skills.
Private education took the bulk of children of the wealthy, the powerful and the privileged. Public funded education declined further in quality. Although more children went to school, they received less and less quality education. Those of them who went further than secondary level education into Colleges of Education, Polytechnics, and Universities took their low quality education there. The system adjusted lower to accommodate them. Education policy pandered to the damaging assumption that every young Nigerian in school must get a university degree, irrespective of their abilities. Cheating and corruption became decisive factors in terms of what education a young Nigerian got. The quality of education crashed, and Nigerian graduates who a few decades ago ranked among the best in the world, became suspects in good international institutions. The poor quality of education from primary school to university reflected in all sectors of society which engaged its products. In the civil service, and other services, in the private sector and even in universities, the quality of performance of new entrants and overall efficiency was embarrassingly low. The nation has paid a terrible price for the crash in its education standards, and the few Nigerians who are privileged to attend expensive, private foreign institutions cannot make the difference.
The Universal Basic Education was a dusted-up version of the old UPE, but it was introduced in a context which was even worse than that of the old U.P.E. The UPE enjoyed initial, massive support, the result of an effective and intense campaign, and the lure of free education. The UBE came to life amidst the ruins of the UPE and all its negative aftermath. It is doubtful if any serious study was undertaken to identify why UPE started so well and delivered so little. But the reasons why U.B.E was not going to address all the failures and limitations of the UPE were all there. More children were out of school, and the State had no moral authority or political capacity to force parents to send their children to schools without teachers, seats or roofs. Corruption had eaten too deeply into the administration of Primary education provided by Local Governments, and only the children of the poor went to these government Primary schools. Children learn nothing in them, while bureaucrats and politicians made millions from them, and then used the diverted monies to send their own children to expensive private schools. Even teachers in government primary schools sent their own children to private schools, and many of them abandoned children of the poor in government schools to go and teach children of the rich in private schools which cannot afford to hire teacher in math and science subjects. The involvement of the Federal Government in overseeing the Universal Basic Education is an untidy arrangement that substantially left the situation pretty much as it is.
In the midst of this messy situation, the threat of the Minister to prosecute parents who do not send their children to school will not disturb a single parent, or help the cause of the millions of Nigerian children who desperately need to receive quality education as a matter of right. If the Federal and State governments are serious about child education, they should put enough resources into education, and eliminate corruption from it. Virtually all parents, including many who prefer to send their children to almajirci schools, will willingly send their children to modern schools if they are convinced that they will receive good and proper education that will prepare them for life as responsible adults.
The most profound and tangible legacy all governments can leave behind is to radically improve the quality of education for young Nigerians, who constitute more than 50% of the population. The children of poor Nigerians are not receiving good education from government funded primary and secondary schools. They will grow up as 50% of adult population which cannot contribute to the economy, Children of the rich and wealthy go to expensive private schools in Nigeria and oversees, yet they have to live with the same children of the poor who have no education, no skills, and no assured future. They will spend their lives behind walls and tinted glasses, in fear of 50% of the population which received no education. Parents know what is good for their children, and most would want their children to receive good education and become good and productive adults. They do not need threats. What they need is honest leadership, and visionary and good policies on education that will keep every Nigerian child from the age of 4until 18 in a good school.
The introduction of the Universal Primary Education (UPE) in the 1970s, and its re-introduction in the last few years were welcome as bold policy initiatives that will build a solid foundation for a strong, united and prosperous nation through the provision of quality and free education to its youth. The Universal Primary Education, vastly increased the number of Nigerian children who attended schools. It expanded the number of classrooms, and recruited and trained more teachers. Expenditure on public education was expanded, and UPE schools churned out millions of school leavers. The problem was that the products of the UPE schools were poorly educated, and they were unprepared for anything else in life other than aspiring to proceed to higher levels of education. Those however, were not available on the scales required, and most of the UPE products did not have entry requirements. This was despite the massive expansion of tertiary education and opportunities for teacher education. The overall result was that the UPE programme turned out millions of young Nigerians whose education was too poor for higher education, and too inadequate for employment in an economy increasingly available only to skilled personnel. The ranks of the unemployed and underemployed young people grew, and agriculture in particular suffered because it lost potential hands to urban areas where young people became involved in petty trade or craft, or petty theft.
After two decades of experimentation, many parents became reluctant to send their children to government schools. Many parents had resisted anyway, choosing instead to send millions of children to almajirci schools where they believed they at least had a chance to learn their ways into heaven in the hereafter. Others preferred to keep children at home to learn petty trades and skills, because at least the training gave them a better chance to live productive lives as adults than children who went to schools that gave them neither education nor skills.
Private education took the bulk of children of the wealthy, the powerful and the privileged. Public funded education declined further in quality. Although more children went to school, they received less and less quality education. Those of them who went further than secondary level education into Colleges of Education, Polytechnics, and Universities took their low quality education there. The system adjusted lower to accommodate them. Education policy pandered to the damaging assumption that every young Nigerian in school must get a university degree, irrespective of their abilities. Cheating and corruption became decisive factors in terms of what education a young Nigerian got. The quality of education crashed, and Nigerian graduates who a few decades ago ranked among the best in the world, became suspects in good international institutions. The poor quality of education from primary school to university reflected in all sectors of society which engaged its products. In the civil service, and other services, in the private sector and even in universities, the quality of performance of new entrants and overall efficiency was embarrassingly low. The nation has paid a terrible price for the crash in its education standards, and the few Nigerians who are privileged to attend expensive, private foreign institutions cannot make the difference.
The Universal Basic Education was a dusted-up version of the old UPE, but it was introduced in a context which was even worse than that of the old U.P.E. The UPE enjoyed initial, massive support, the result of an effective and intense campaign, and the lure of free education. The UBE came to life amidst the ruins of the UPE and all its negative aftermath. It is doubtful if any serious study was undertaken to identify why UPE started so well and delivered so little. But the reasons why U.B.E was not going to address all the failures and limitations of the UPE were all there. More children were out of school, and the State had no moral authority or political capacity to force parents to send their children to schools without teachers, seats or roofs. Corruption had eaten too deeply into the administration of Primary education provided by Local Governments, and only the children of the poor went to these government Primary schools. Children learn nothing in them, while bureaucrats and politicians made millions from them, and then used the diverted monies to send their own children to expensive private schools. Even teachers in government primary schools sent their own children to private schools, and many of them abandoned children of the poor in government schools to go and teach children of the rich in private schools which cannot afford to hire teacher in math and science subjects. The involvement of the Federal Government in overseeing the Universal Basic Education is an untidy arrangement that substantially left the situation pretty much as it is.
In the midst of this messy situation, the threat of the Minister to prosecute parents who do not send their children to school will not disturb a single parent, or help the cause of the millions of Nigerian children who desperately need to receive quality education as a matter of right. If the Federal and State governments are serious about child education, they should put enough resources into education, and eliminate corruption from it. Virtually all parents, including many who prefer to send their children to almajirci schools, will willingly send their children to modern schools if they are convinced that they will receive good and proper education that will prepare them for life as responsible adults.
The most profound and tangible legacy all governments can leave behind is to radically improve the quality of education for young Nigerians, who constitute more than 50% of the population. The children of poor Nigerians are not receiving good education from government funded primary and secondary schools. They will grow up as 50% of adult population which cannot contribute to the economy, Children of the rich and wealthy go to expensive private schools in Nigeria and oversees, yet they have to live with the same children of the poor who have no education, no skills, and no assured future. They will spend their lives behind walls and tinted glasses, in fear of 50% of the population which received no education. Parents know what is good for their children, and most would want their children to receive good education and become good and productive adults. They do not need threats. What they need is honest leadership, and visionary and good policies on education that will keep every Nigerian child from the age of 4until 18 in a good school.
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