Today marks Nigeria’s 55th Independence anniversary. It is the first Independence celebration by the President Muhammadu Buhari administration.
The anniversary is coming when the list of would-be ministers is being made public. Expectations are high as Nigerians wait for the promised change by the government.
Nigerians have divergent views on Nigeria’s achievements since becoming independent on October 1, 1960. Some, like Mr Bode Adeboye, an entrepreneur, think there is nothing to celebrate about education, which he noted is plagued by corruption – like other areas of national life.
“For me, I do not think education has really improved compared to where we are now. The issue is certainly corruption; it has eaten deep into the affairs of the country. If only Nigerians and also people at the helm of affairs could see beyond selfish interest and greed, by now, we would have been celebrated as one of the developed countries in the world.
“It is not as if governments have not been doing anything. A lot of money has been invested in the sector; but it has hardly been used to achieve its purpose. We are marking 55 years of independence when, in actual fact, it calls for no celebration,” he said.
A lecturer of Lagos State University, Prof Biodun Akinpelu argues that education is in shambles.
“Today, it is no exaggeration that education has crashed beyond imagination,” he said.
Mr Abayomi Badru, who runs a tutorial centre in Ikorodu, Lagos, lamented that the deterioration in the education sector is evident in the increasing number of private institutions in operation while public schools are going down.
It is not all bad news, says those who submit that there are milestones in education worth celebrating. Prof Offiong E Offiong, immediate past Education Commissioner in Cross River State, said education today is better than two decades ago.
“I would not say the achievements so far have not been commendable. It has marked departure from what we saw 20 years ago – and whether people want to see it or not – all indices point to the fact that there is improvement in education. But I think it may not be as what a typical Nigerian is expecting,” he said
Mr. Kehinde Ojo, former Commissioner for Education, Science and Technology in Ekiti State, said the education sector has expanded opportunities to many people since 1960.
Ojo said the fact that many pupils and students produced by public schools in Nigeria are making waves in different fields all over the world is an indication that Nigerian education has fared well since independence, despite the many challenges.
He said: “The goal of education at independence was to produce men and women who would take over from the colonialists and administer our country after the colonialists might have left.
“It is also aimed at producing men and women to rub shoulders with their counterparts all over the world and free education was introduced in the Western Region and Eastern Region.
“This gave every child of school age the opportunity to have access to education and many pupils were given the opportunity they wouldn’t have had in the first instance.
“And this created more opportunities with the establishment of more schools like teacher training colleges, modern schools, secondary schools and primary schools which were financed by the government.
“The establishment of these schools produced leaders in states, academia, business and church and this opened opportunities to Nigerians to take over from colonialists.
“I want to say that education has fared well in Nigeria despite the challenges because the products of these schools are rubbing shoulders with the very best around the world”.
Professor of Drama and Theatre at the University of Jos (UNIJOS), John Illah, agrees with Ojo.
“It has been one tremendous growth in all sectors of Nigeria since independence. In the education sector in particular, great improvements have been recorded. For instance, in 1948, there was only one University College in the whole of Nigeria, but today, we are not only talking of government universities, we are also talking of private owned universities. All districts in Nigeria today have more than one secondary school; most villages have primary schools. The Nigerian education sector is meeting the country’s manpower needs,” he said.
However, those respondents who agreed that education has improved noted that there were many challenges that needed to be addressed.
Prof Akinpelu said the level of degeneration in education was deserving of rescue mission akin to the fight against the Boko Haram Insurgency.
“For me, it is not about President Buhari looking for where to fix it, but rather declaring a state of emergency in the sector. Today the federal government is making progress in its renewed aggressiveness in tackling terrorism and I advise that education should be approached in the same manner,” Akinpelu added.
Challenges to be addressed
To remedy the problems in the sector, educationists have advised President Buhari and the new minister he appoints for the education sector, as well as government at the state level to focus on eliminating corruption, implement policies, re-train public school teachers, improving quality assurance, curriculum among other measures.
Policy implementation
Prof Offiong believes that policy-wise, Nigeria has the template to achieve excellence in the education sector. Rather than formulating new policies, he suggested that the government focuses on implementation.
“In my opinion, the policy and the manpower that we have in the country can successfully drive education and bring the Nigerian education system at par with what is happening in emerging developed countries. Some of these policies are well thought of and the experts we have in the country in education are people who are also making a lot of impact beyond the Nigerian shores. So we truly have what is takes, but what is lacking with due respect, is very strong political will. We must not politicize education. If we can separate education from politics, that will be able to pave way for a more enduring and relevant education system in Nigeria,” he said.
Re-branding public school teachers
Though Mike Johnson teaches in a private school, he wants the government to focus on improving public schools, particularly re-training their teachers or purging bad eggs from the system.
He said: “My main focus is the public schools. The fact that it is a government school does not mean it should be taken for granted. Most of these schools do not have quality teachers. Government should not just employ anybody just to give him a job; we are talking about moulding our future. Most of these public pupils, even at SS3 level, cannot express themselves properly. Some of the teachers too are not even fit for the job. The fact that all hands are not equal should not be used as an excuse to make the less-privileged pay for being poor. I want the government to really look into this, if you are subsidizsing education, place some value on it.”
Offiong also called for training at the basic and secondary levels because they are the foundation.
“At the basic level of education which is the primary level essentially, we still have a lot of teachers that need to be retrained and those who do not have what it takes to be in the system should be well advised. The foundation is very critical, because once the child is not given adequate foundation; he or she cannot also perform better in higher levels,” he said.
For a teaching workforce that would deliver, Akinpelu suggested that the government should learn from former Rivers State Governor, Rotimi Amaechi, who employed and trained over 13,000 teachers.
“If the new government must walk its talk with its ‘change’ slogan, it should take a cue from former Rivers State Governor Rotimi Amaechi who, during his tenure, recruited 13,251 teachers into public schools in the state.
“I was one of those recruited from Lagos to conduct training for those new teachers and we were on ground there (Rivers) for the exercise for a whole month. That is an example of a government committed to lifting education,” he said.
Like Rivers State did, Dr Lanre Adeyuyo of the Adeniran Ogunsanya College of Education (AOCOED), Ijanikin, urged the Federal Government and others to recruit more teachers to address the acute teacher shortage.
“At the basic level, many of the public schools suffer congested classrooms. That challenge can be addressed if government recruits more teachers. Unfortunately, teaching job which used to be the last resort, is now becoming scarce. The situation is further compounded with government policy that once you are above 30 years, you cannot be employed for teaching,” he said.
Monitor private schools
Conversely, proprietor of Little Saints Montessori School, Ilupeju, Mrs Bukky Fadayomi, thinks government needs to do more about regulating poor quality private schools.
“I think that right now, the government should not permit any new school. Schools without standard should not be in operation. The ones in existence, they should see that they are on their toes. There should be a lot of inspectors going in. I have seen Lagos State government training its teachers. However, a lot of private schools are afraid to train their teachers. Private schools should wake up. The teaching profession admits any rubbish. This should stop. We have a lot of schools that government needs to say if you want to run a school, do it right; if not, close shop,” she said.
Regular curriculum review
The current curriculum has been lauded for its robustness and entrepreneurial bent. Ojo said the curriculum should be reviewed once in seven years to keep it relevant.
“Education should be tailored towards needs, and the curriculum should constantly be reviewed every seven years so that it can be relevant in this generation.
“The planners should look into the issue of using local languages to teach pupils in their first three years in school. In China, Chinese is used to teach their pupils, in Japan, Japanese is used to teach their pupils, in Germany, German is used to teach their pupils, in France, French is used to teach their pupils while in England, English is used as the language of instruction.
“We are losing a lot by failing to use our languages to teach our children because before you know it, these languages may go into extinction.”
Improve funding
More funding for the education sector would go a long way to improve education, says Dr Lanre Aiyejuyo of the Adeniran Ogunsanya College of Education, Ijanikin.
He warned that continued poor funding would only result in poor quality education.
“In recent times, we’ve had proliferation of public institution; unfortunately these institutions suffer poor funding and this results in poor quality. Only a few of our public institutions are consistent and devoted. Unfortunately too, private universities are taking the shine off public institutions. Most of those in their faculty are retirees from public institutions, who are willing to work; therefore the quality of education is high,” he said.
Learn from International best practices
Mr Joseph Ayeni, CEO of Simplex Business Solutions, a software development company, noted that Nigeria’s education sector would develop if the government could learn what the top countries in education are getting right.
“Development cannot just happen one day and it is not by chance. It has to do with what we do. What are we ready to do? We talked about slogans: the youths are the leaders of the future. These children, are they going to be competing with their counterparts in other parts of the world, in South Korea, China, Poland, Finland, UK and others? Some of the countries I have called make up some of the top 10 countries in education globally. We should look at what they have done to be among the top 10 position in the world and do it also,” she said.
