The politics of education in Nigeria
Growing up in the village meant limited access to public amenities including good schools. I got educated thanks to the only government-owned primary school in the town. Public schools are the channel for which children of the poor can also become somebody in life. We, therefore, owe it a responsibility to sustain and improve their standards. ―Adetunji Adeniran.
On September 2, 2018, I was contacted for an interview by Social Innovations Academy, the first fully digital academy for social entrepreneurs in Europe and based in Luxemburg. Although Africa is not a part of their primary targets for obvious reasons they thought after looking through the work we are doing, they can learn from individuals in Africa in the social space.
After the interview, I kept asking myself if it was a dream and maybe I would soon wake up and be back to reality. How possible was that? A European Academy is getting insights from a boy that was educated in the village.
Then I realised that to build more global ambassadors for Nigeria, children of the poor must, as a priority, have access to quality education at our public educational institutions at all levels. Government much deliberately be interested in education and development of young people especially in vulnerable communities across the 36 states including FCT.
For so long now, the governments at the three tiers have relegated education while promoting mediocrity in the name of youth empowerment to score political points. The most rewarding empowerment any government can give to her people is a deliberate investment into their future through proper funding and monitoring of education policies and their implementations. According to United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), Nigeria has the highest number of out of school children in the world and of course, our university system is also one of the worsts in the world and not even near top five in Africa.
Also, a joint research By Ikediashi and Amaechi (2011) on Teacher Ratio: Implication For Quality Education In Nigerian Primary Schools published in International Journal Of Arts & Humanities revealed that for effective learning system, the teacher to pupil ratio should be 1:30 for theory course; 1:20 for both theory and practical courses and 1:30 for practical courses.
Unfortunately, according to a 2010 report by the Universal Basic Education (UBE), the ratio in Nigeria is 1:40 and it is even worse for disciplines like Home Economics, Computer Studies and Vocational courses. These are fundamental issues that need to be addressed if the children of the low in the society will have access to quality education and become global shapers.
The solution is not in creating ‘Youth Empowerment Scheme (YES)” that breeds a sense of entitlement in young people to be dependent on the government for N20,000 monthly stipend. It is not in conditional cash transfer of N10,000 to run a business that depends on electricity, fuel and energy which collects N30,000 from them.
Click to read full article published on The Nigerian Tribune
