By Emofonmwan Osarumwense Favour
The primary aim of education goes beyond literacy. Education aims to provide individuals with knowledge, skills and values; necessary to lead productive, fulfilling lives and contribute positively to the society. Therefore the need for education cannot be overemphasized. It is imperative that education should be open to everyone at all basis regardless of their gender, social class, ethnicity and race.
A society’s level of development is determined its level of education. Education focuses on holistic development by nurturing critical thinking, problem- solving, and creativity. It should also promote the development of social, emotional and ethnical capabilities, enabling individuals to be responsible citizens who can contribute positively to the society.
“It is erroneous to think that only those who went to school, i.e. acquired formal education are educated. An educated person is one whose eyes have been opened to rational ways of solving his or her own problem…”. There are different reasons why people get educated: To some, acquire knowledge and to others, impact knowledge.
Nigeria is the most populous country in Africa with over 200 thousand inhabitants, faces enormous challenges in its education sector. “Education in Nigeria is based on a 6-3-3-4”, which involves three levels of educational processes: at the primary school level, the secondary school level and the tertiary school level.
“The nursery education comes before the primary school level but unfortunately, a lot of families can not afford it.”
Basic Education also known as Primary school includes six years of primary education and three years of Junior Secondary Education. Meanwhile, Secondary Education covers three years of Senior Secondary Education for senior secondary school students.
Tertiary education includes post-secondary schools such as Polytechnics, Colleges of education, and Universities, where students can earn a Bachelor’s, Master’s, or Doctorate’s degree.
A Senior Secondary School (SSS) student requires 5 credits out of the subjects they entered for the Senior Secondary Certificate Examination(SSCE) to be able to get into the tertiary institution.
A country without education cannot be imagined. Education is essential for the growth and development of any nation and Nigeria is no exception.”
However, the state of education in Nigeria has been a major concern for decades. Nigeria as a third world country despite being the most populous country in Africa and having the largest economy, Nigeria has one of the lowest literacy rates in the world, with only 59% of the adult population able to read and write.
The educational sector in Nigeria has been fraught with numerous challenges, ranging from inadequate funding and infrastructure, low-quality teaching, insufficient teacher training, non-implementation of policies, corruption and the widening education gap between urban and rural areas.
These challenges have causes past and present effects in the country. Poor funding is a major cause of inadequate infrastructure, insufficient teacher training, low quality teaching and they are linked by corruption and poor financing accountability; the only reason why funds would not be released is as a result of unavailability of finance. Also, non-implementation of policies is as a result of government not taking good measures in the educational sector of the country.
The effects of these challenges has brought more damages to Nigeria’s Educational Sector. The first and major challenge of the educational sector in Nigeria is inadequate funding and infrastructure by the different levels of government.
The Nigerian government allocated only 7% of its annual budget to education in 2021, despite the recommendation by UNESCO that recommends 26% average budget allocation towards education for developing countries Inadequate funding and infrastructure have had a significant impact on Nigeria’s educational system, affecting access, quality and equity of education. Inadequate funding has limited access to education for many Nigerians, especially those from poor backgrounds.
There are insufficient schools to cater to the growing population, leaving millions of children without access to education.
Also, inadequate funding and infrastructure has resulted to the quality of Nigeria’s education as being poor and has led to limited resources such as textbooks, laboratories, and modern technology in schools.
The lack of adequate funding has resulted in inequity in education. Schools that receive more funding are often in urban areas and cater to the wealthy while those in rural areas and poor sections are left without adequate resources. Low-quality training and insufficient teachers training is another challenge in Nigeria’s educational sector.
Inadequate training or low-quality training for teachers has a direct impact on the quality of education that students receive. It results in teachers lacking the necessary skills and knowledge required to effectively teach students and deliver quality education.
When there are no training programmes provided for teachers by the government in order to improve their teaching skills, there is no way the teachers will be able to impact the students with better knowledge; it is just like carrying out two experiments with the same method and expecting a different result.
In Nigeria education system, some policies needs to be implemented for the smooth running of the sector but the non-implementation of these policies makes the educational sector not to function effectively.
The prevalence of corruption has also impacted negatively on the education sector in Nigeria. Corrupt practices such as extortion, fraud, bribery, exam malpractices, and admission racketeering have become commonplace in the Nigerian educational system.
This heightens the inability of the Nigerian education sector to function effectively. Furthermore, the gap between education in urban and rural areas continues to widen; this adversely affects persons in rural communities who often receive poor quality education.
This inequity is due to underfunding and lack of political will to improve the educational infrastructure in rural areas. Consequently, it has created a social imbalance between students who have access to quality education in urban and semi-urban communities and those who do not have or have limited accessibility to the same quality of education in rural communities.
In order to solve the challenges and the problems facing Nigeria’s educational sector, the government needs to allocate more resources to education by increasing budgetary allocation, grants, and loans to public schools and universities. This would help to improve infrastructure, enhance the quality of instruction, recruit more qualified teachers and purchase modern instructional materials.
There is the need for a compulsory training and consistent professional development programs for teachers to improve their teaching skills, particularly in pedagogy, instructional design and technology integration.
The government should make provisions for scholarships and grants for students, especially those from low-income families and provide infrastructure such as classrooms and ICT facilities in underserved communities to increase access to education.
The government should prioritize the implementation and enforcement of policies and regulations that will promote equal access to education, safety, and security in schools and accountability for stakeholders involved in education.
Overall, the government needs to take a multi-faceted approach in addressing the education crisis in Nigeria.
By prioritizing education and implementing these solutions, it will help create a brighter future for the country.
