I started a discourse on Nigeria's Lost People some days ago and did promise that I would do a sector by sector analysis and proffer solutions to the ailing areas of our national life. The key component of my discourse is about the PEOPLE. Nigeria is nothing without its great people but the people themselves can never truly be great if they are not treated like citizens. Citizens have rights and privileges but in the case of Nigeria, it is difficult to define them as citizens; I prefer to call them "people" because they do not have what it takes to be called the former.
Today, I am addressing the challenge of EDUCATION in Nigeria. From available statistics, more than half of our population which is a little above 150 million is uneducated. That means the percentage of our literacy is a little less than 50%! By saying that, we are being generous because education from the perspective I intend to look at it is beyond those who went to the University and got degrees. The statistics refers to those who went through formal education and not even necessarily those who ended up with degrees. The literacy level here are those who have the ability to read, understand and write legibly. For all intents and purposes, that is not education.
A person can be said to be educated when he first of all passes through formal schools and gets the basic degree we refer to as "first degree". In getting that first degree, it is assumed that he has a complete grasp of how things operate in terms of know-how. He has a general idea of how things work and in his chosen field, he has on-the-spot, general overview of what obtains and with a little induction, he can run things smoothly and eventually add value.
That is my understand of education with a first degree. Such a person should be able to inter-relate well and have world-view of issues and participate in any sector of his country's socio-economic activities and make an impact. Left without a job, this person should hold his own in his own private business and run things well.
But alas! That is not what education means in reality in Nigeria! Those who are said to be educated and are almost amongst the 50% literate figure are actually half-baked individuals who hardly understand what they have read as a course in the University or even in the Polytechnics! 80% of Nigerian graduates cannot defend the certificates they carry. It is a shame of monumental proportion.
Most of the certificates that Nigerian graduates brandish are bought! How do I mean? They acquired such degrees through very dubious systems in place within the institutions that do not bother about impacting the mind of the students but ensuring they just pass examinations (and this through many malpractices) and they are awarded degrees at the end of the day.
Where does the rot start from?
We do not have a sound primary education system in place. 90% of public schools, if not more are dilapidated and non-functional. In Hausa parlance, someone called it "filin wasan yara" meaning "children's playground". Nothing really happens at our public primary schools. I have heard so much about Universal Basic Education Boards across the length and breadth of the country but each time I pass by a public primary school, I can hardly find any class with good seats. I have also seen sorry sights in rural areas where children seat under thatched roofs called "classes" to learn!
If the infrastructure is dilapidated, then the teaching staff are also half-baked. Our Colleges of Education are churning out certificated illiterates! I visited one recently in company of a friend and she almost wept. Students were actually seating on bare floor to be taught and when we listened closely, they were being taught in Hausa language! What subject were they learning? English! Can you imagine the confusion? When such people graduate and are employed in public primary or secondary schools, what do they have to teach our children?!
Our primary schools are in the state of decay. Private schools came to the rescue many years ago but most of them are very unaffordable for the common man. And the standards of many are falling because their number one motivation is wealth (money) not education.
The Evil of Examination Malpractices
When people are not taught properly, and examination questions are set by those who assumed they have been taught well, the half baked students will look for ways and means to "pass" by all means. Sensing the desperation by the students and even their parents, exam officials, school authorities and invigilators compromise standards and "pass" students after collecting bribes. The high school graduate exams called WAEC or NECO in Nigeria is now in a mess. It is currently holding and you can actually witness corrupt practices right on the streets across the schools where the examination is taking place! Who is fooling who? If you cannot defend the result you have, you still do not have value to offer and your life will still end up in vanity!
Who will bell the cat?
How shall we come out of this malady? There has to be a total make-over. An overall of the system by very patriotic and incorruptible Nigerians. How can we find them? They are available but they are in the minority but needs to be backed by the authorities to sweep the system clean. Real education can become a reality in Nigeria if the government can condescend from its high political position of voting billions of naira establishing further universities and seeing to the quality of learning from the primary to the tertiary levels of education. This rot has to stop.
No half baked Nigerian can compete favourably with his counterpart in other parts of the continent, much less stake a claim to any job in other parts of the world. Is it not a shame for us as the most populous black nation on the planet that none of our Universities are listed amongst the first 100 in the world? This calls for sober reflection.
It is time to sanitize the education sector. This piece may not be exhaustive but if you want to highlight areas of rot in our education sector for the authorities to pay attention, kindly drop your comments below and we can find a way of putting them on public dormain.
The struggle is on....
Today, I am addressing the challenge of EDUCATION in Nigeria. From available statistics, more than half of our population which is a little above 150 million is uneducated. That means the percentage of our literacy is a little less than 50%! By saying that, we are being generous because education from the perspective I intend to look at it is beyond those who went to the University and got degrees. The statistics refers to those who went through formal education and not even necessarily those who ended up with degrees. The literacy level here are those who have the ability to read, understand and write legibly. For all intents and purposes, that is not education.
A person can be said to be educated when he first of all passes through formal schools and gets the basic degree we refer to as "first degree". In getting that first degree, it is assumed that he has a complete grasp of how things operate in terms of know-how. He has a general idea of how things work and in his chosen field, he has on-the-spot, general overview of what obtains and with a little induction, he can run things smoothly and eventually add value.
That is my understand of education with a first degree. Such a person should be able to inter-relate well and have world-view of issues and participate in any sector of his country's socio-economic activities and make an impact. Left without a job, this person should hold his own in his own private business and run things well.
But alas! That is not what education means in reality in Nigeria! Those who are said to be educated and are almost amongst the 50% literate figure are actually half-baked individuals who hardly understand what they have read as a course in the University or even in the Polytechnics! 80% of Nigerian graduates cannot defend the certificates they carry. It is a shame of monumental proportion.
Most of the certificates that Nigerian graduates brandish are bought! How do I mean? They acquired such degrees through very dubious systems in place within the institutions that do not bother about impacting the mind of the students but ensuring they just pass examinations (and this through many malpractices) and they are awarded degrees at the end of the day.
Where does the rot start from?
We do not have a sound primary education system in place. 90% of public schools, if not more are dilapidated and non-functional. In Hausa parlance, someone called it "filin wasan yara" meaning "children's playground". Nothing really happens at our public primary schools. I have heard so much about Universal Basic Education Boards across the length and breadth of the country but each time I pass by a public primary school, I can hardly find any class with good seats. I have also seen sorry sights in rural areas where children seat under thatched roofs called "classes" to learn!
If the infrastructure is dilapidated, then the teaching staff are also half-baked. Our Colleges of Education are churning out certificated illiterates! I visited one recently in company of a friend and she almost wept. Students were actually seating on bare floor to be taught and when we listened closely, they were being taught in Hausa language! What subject were they learning? English! Can you imagine the confusion? When such people graduate and are employed in public primary or secondary schools, what do they have to teach our children?!
Our primary schools are in the state of decay. Private schools came to the rescue many years ago but most of them are very unaffordable for the common man. And the standards of many are falling because their number one motivation is wealth (money) not education.
The Evil of Examination Malpractices
When people are not taught properly, and examination questions are set by those who assumed they have been taught well, the half baked students will look for ways and means to "pass" by all means. Sensing the desperation by the students and even their parents, exam officials, school authorities and invigilators compromise standards and "pass" students after collecting bribes. The high school graduate exams called WAEC or NECO in Nigeria is now in a mess. It is currently holding and you can actually witness corrupt practices right on the streets across the schools where the examination is taking place! Who is fooling who? If you cannot defend the result you have, you still do not have value to offer and your life will still end up in vanity!
Who will bell the cat?
How shall we come out of this malady? There has to be a total make-over. An overall of the system by very patriotic and incorruptible Nigerians. How can we find them? They are available but they are in the minority but needs to be backed by the authorities to sweep the system clean. Real education can become a reality in Nigeria if the government can condescend from its high political position of voting billions of naira establishing further universities and seeing to the quality of learning from the primary to the tertiary levels of education. This rot has to stop.
No half baked Nigerian can compete favourably with his counterpart in other parts of the continent, much less stake a claim to any job in other parts of the world. Is it not a shame for us as the most populous black nation on the planet that none of our Universities are listed amongst the first 100 in the world? This calls for sober reflection.
It is time to sanitize the education sector. This piece may not be exhaustive but if you want to highlight areas of rot in our education sector for the authorities to pay attention, kindly drop your comments below and we can find a way of putting them on public dormain.
The struggle is on....
