This article will explain to you the problems of education in Nigeria and recommended solutions; we will talk about its educational operation, its malfunctions, and possible solutions.
“The question you should ask yourself is; what can I really do in my life, that is in the last or fourth stage of your life if you have not yet been able to get education as the first, and then wealth as second and finally merit as the third? This was a quote from ancient Vedic civilization.
Education has always found its priority in the world, at the first order of structural development within a progressive society as well as the personal holy grail.
This quote sums up the importance of every action of life, specifically education which sets the foundation of other prosperous values of life.
Colonization has cost the world a humongous price of losing self-determination
Every colonized nation has been damaged by its wealth and education. If wealth or resource is affected, it’s an investment in building up other essentials, distinctly education is affected.
Colonization equates dominance of the culture of one over the other. The colonizers turns predator and the colonized population falls prey to it.
The indigenous culture and civilization ethics are lost in the friction. The horrifying thing is that colonizers in their quest to establish their rule overrules the original population.
NIGERIA as a country, as civilization has faced the unjustified wrath of the same, only to have freed from the clutches in 1960.
And the most affected sector, deprived of its indigenously in Nigeria was education.
What is the education system of NIGERIA like?
It works in the 1+6+3+3+4 formula.
- **1 year of pre-primary education.
- ** 6 years of primary education.
- ** 3 (three) years in JSS3 junior secondary education.
- ** 3 years of senior secondary education.
- ** Minimum of 4 and maximum of 5 years of tertiary education.
What is the population of Nigeria?
An estimated 21 crore or 211 million.
What percentage of Nigeria’s population is educated?
According to 2018 reports, 62.2% of the population is literate.
The data over the past few years shows huge disparity and malfunction-
- 1991- 55.45%
- 2003- 54.77%
- 2006-70.20%
- 2008-51.8%
- 2018- 62.2%
A 2019 report says-
- ** 10 million children are out of school, the highest in the world.
- ** 27 million students perform poorly.
- ** 60 million population is illiterate, which is 30% of the population.
What are the issues with the Nigerian EDUCATION system?
There are some problems Nigerian education has been faced with. Below are a list of them and the recommended solutions.
** Lack of awareness about the importance of education.
Solution- The government should set up a committee that would volunteer in employing already existing educationists to go door to door and motivate parents to send their children to schools. The problem can even be solved more efficiently via a digital will. In spite of door to door campaigns, educators can digitally make the population aware.
** Syllabus malfunction.
Solution– The education has to be efficient enough to bring forth hidden capabilities in students. These capabilities become utilities in a variety of fields and students go on working on their own forte and bring efficiency to services later.
The syllabus should include-
- The ancient history of the country.
- Effects of colonization.
- Resources and potentials.
- Scientific practicals.
- Technological information.
A special focus has to be given to imparting the knowledge in the mother tongue. And, research is another field where expertise has to be increased manifold.
** Manipulated Infrastructure
Solution– Better environment for studying is significant. And the marvel of better environment can be achieved only with-
- Pukka school buildings.
- Enough curricular activities.
- Sports exposure.
- Enough study materials.
- Digital classrooms.
- A reasonable size of teaching staff.
- A trained administrative head of all institutions.
** Checks and Balance imbalance
Solution- Even if the system is developed, sometimes it is the fall over of people or things that disturb the ecosystem of good. So, in my humble opinion, I think proper checks and balances should be put into place.
What is the Need For checks and balances in Nigerian Education?
Check and balances must be put into place for the following reasons;
- Checks in stealing resources.
- Checks in black marketing of resources.
- Checks in wastage of resources.
- Checks in equal distribution of resources.
** Fee hike or disparity
Solution– Education is the only sector that, if, absolutely subsidized by the government, will benefit all levels of intellect in students.
The economy of Nigeria is a case of disarray. According to the reports of 2020, 40% of the Nigerian population lives below the poverty line, and unemployment as of 2021 reports is 32%. The huge size of the population has to suffer from issues of putting up food, lodging, and basic amenities together. And most of them fails to send their child to school for education.
In such a case, if the government subsidizes most of the education period at least up to senior secondary school, then all of them, the reasonable population, can get evenly educated.
This however will deal with two more problems-
- ** Admission system and procedures shall attain transparency.
- ** Dropouts will reduce in the mammoth figures.
- ** Education budget allocation deficiency
Solution– The international benchmark and recommendation of education budget allocation is 15-16% of the GDP.
In recent reports of 2021, the new BUHARI government has allocated 5.6% of the budget for education, which is 10 years low.
A poor country like Nigeria has to look after its population in different aspects as well. But, education if, not improved, all other good factors shall cease to exist. And the only solution is slowly increasing the budget for education every year. One more professional solution would be the quarterly allocation of budget for education with improvement in the expenditure of capital.
** Incentive malfunction
Solution– Incentives like meals for students within the premises of educational institutions, use to work well in the previous century when the aspirations of people were restricted. With increased sectors, and variety in work fields, the motivation to survive via more improved standards has increased.
Many third-world countries have rouse global standards and participation. This information reaches third-world countries of low capital like Nigeria. And naturally, aspirations grow. And, amidst such increased standards of needs, these incentives fail.
The capital allocated for such incentives can be diverted to the education budget rather, which might contribute to improving resource standards.
- ** Works have to be done economically as well. Abject poverty unless dealt with, such typical issues can’t see the light of solution.
- ** Lastly, any change, needs huge political will.
CHANGE IS A MUST! CHANGE FOR THE BETTER IS A MUST!
SUMMARY:
This piece of article verifies the systemic issue pertaining to the education system of NIGERIA. The focus has been to find solutions for extensive orders. It discusses colonization, its effects on civilizations, people, and society. It gives data about population, literacy rate, and reports on the schooling system. It details all malfunctions in the system and introduces possible solutions for the upliftment of higher orders.
