NIGERIA’S primary education is all at sea, a mishmash of ineffectiveness, waste, policy somersaults, plunging enrolment and low teacher morale. It has been so for quite some time, but it needs not be. A photograph of a primary school classroom in Eket, Akwa Ibom State, on the cover of this newspaper last week captured the rot in graphic details. In a state saturated with oil income, the photograph — a piece of perspective journalism — showed a class at St. Paul’s Lutheran Primary School, Ikot Ibiok, with just two desks, one for a group of four pupils and the other for the teacher. A majority of the pupils sat with divided attention on the bare floor, some in uniform, and others in mufti. This is inexcusable.
The pupils in Eket might even be said to be well off to have a roof over their heads. In many states, pupils study under sheds and trees. Where there are buildings, they are dilapidated. The roofs of many schools, both in the urban and rural areas, are often torn off. Windows and doors are a rarity; toilet facilities are often non-existent and fences have collapsed. In a 2010 study, the Ondo State Ministry of Economic Planning found that there was a shortfall of 7,494 classrooms, as well as 190,177 desks, 192,310 seats, and 482 toilets in its 1,164 primary schools. No serious learning can take place in this harsh environment. Consequently, a bleak future awaits both the pupils and the nation. The mess reinforces the prevailing poverty in that part of the country.
Alarmingly, a joint UNICEF/UNESCO 2012 study rated Nigeria as the country with the highest number of out-of-school children in the world, a figure put at 10.5 million. In 2004, UNESCO had estimated that 7.3 million Nigerian children of school age had no access to education, many of them wasting away their future on the streets. With the Boko Haram insurgency in several states in the North, it is not a surprise that the rot has festered. After a 2014 assessment, UNESCO estimated that at the rate Nigeria was moving, its Millennium Development Goal in education that should have been met by 2015 might not be achieved until 2086. To escape the crisis, the privileged few who can afford the prohibitive fees are enrolling their children in private schools, or sending them abroad.
What could be wrong? Many things, but certainly not money, as all tiers of government are committing huge funds — at least on paper — to the system. A few examples will suffice. In August, Governor Ibrahim Dankwambo said Gombe State had spent N20 billion on education between 2011 and 2015. Akwa Ibom, which earns the highest revenue from the federal pool among the 36 states, on account of its oil-producing status, spent N60 billion on its free education programme in the eight years to 2015, during the administration of Godswill Akpabio, said Moses Ekpo, the state’s incumbent deputy governor.
A pivotal scheme — the Universal Basic Education programme — that was launched in 1999 by former President Olusegun Obasanjo faces the problem of implementation. By law, the Federal Government sets apart two per cent of its annual Consolidated Revenue Fund to fund the UBE scheme. But state governments are loath to contribute their own counterpart funding, one of the conditions mandatory for them to access it. As a result, the fund is largely lying fallow. Besides, some governors misappropriate the fund, when made available, as evident in the charges against a former governor in the North-East region by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission.
Apart from collapsing infrastructure, the Nigeria Union of Teachers is incensed by the poor welfare of teachers. Earlier this year, the NUT said teachers were being owed several months in salary arrears in as many as 23 states. This is really pathetic. Also, the number and quality of teachers needed to drive excellence at the basic tier is pitiably low. Katsina State, for example, says it needs additional 8,000 primary school teachers.
There is also the issue of pervasive poverty across the land. Even in the South-South, where the photograph was taken, the majority of the people are only eking out a living, despite the oil wealth.
Nigeria is not an island. Education drives personal development and the economy of a country. Without it, our children cannot meet up with the demands of the progressive, competitive world. The rest of the world attaches utmost priority to education, right from childhood. Indeed, most European countries had perfected the current primary school system by the end of the 19th century, with some of them now recording 100 per cent attendance. They invest a significant share of their national revenue in education, with some as high as 17 per cent. According to UNESCO, the annual global spending on education has reached $5 trillion.
Almost all European nations make primary education compulsory. In Finland — one of the countries with the highest ratings — all children receive free education from the age of seven. School meals, resources and materials, transport and support services are also free. In the United Kingdom, one of the bastions of capitalism, primary education is free, with 93 per cent of British children attending state-funded (public) schools from age five. By law, no student is allowed to drop out of school there until age 18. In Luxembourg, the constitution bars tuition for basic education.
But amidst the decay, Governor Nasir el-Rufai of Kaduna State and Aminu Masari, his Katsina counterpart, offer some hope. Noticing the trend, el-Rufai declared a state of emergency in education in the state on October 1. “Education is freedom from want and disease,” el-Rufai said. This is a cornerstone of the welfarist principle. On his part, Masari has encouraged teachers and public officials to withdraw their wards from private schools and bring them back to public schools to rebuild confidence in the system.
To stem the tide of general decline, other states have to take radical measures to revive primary education. We need to revamp the system, institutionalise accountability, teacher-motivation through training and competitive remuneration as it is done in Finland. Ultimately, issues of pedagogy and policy stability must be taken seriously as pillars of a solid, enduring system.
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