Results of the Joint Admission and Matriculation Board
examinations taken 27th April have been released. The results thus far show the
continued decay in Nigeria’s education sector. Over one and half million young
Nigerians took the examination in hope of gaining admission into over 80
universities. Somehow, the secondary school system continues to train students
no good enough to gain admission into the universities as proven by results in public examinations like WAEC and JAMB.
Going by the last Senior School Certificate Examination
results or trend in the past five years, the decline continues to worsen. The pass
rate for English and Mathematics shows a fluctuating trend in our secondary
schools.
2009 - 26%
2010 - 25%
2011 - 40%
2012 - 20%
2013 - ?
There is a real problem with our secondary schools. For years,
the emphasis has been on the poor standards of learning conditions at our universities
compared to the rest of the world. Our secondary schools though are worse. Primary
and secondary school education are the foundation stone for a good higher
education. Without those, the millions who sit for JAMB yearly waste their time
as it is harder to learn new tricks in old age. A lot is wrong with our
educational sector and worst hit is our secondary schools.
Teacher training and retraining is an issue mentioned
only by politicians on campaign grounds. Schools have no libraries; teachers
are ill motivated by the poor response of students and declining rate of
assimilation. Teacher to pupil or student ratio is alarmingly too low. In some
cases, there are no science teachers at all.
Parents have no time these days to attend PTA meetings or
help their children with homework and assignments owing to increased work hours
and struggle. Secondary school children themselves are persistently distracted
by the growing presence of gadgets, social media and television. These distractions
constitute a stumbling block to their presence of mind and level of attentiveness
in classes. Private schools are all over the place without regulation or standardization.
Just about anyone can teach in these shanties called schools. Few private
schools offer some decent education at the cost of gold, only parents so
fortunate can afford.
Another cause of the growing decline in education quality
is poverty. The Nigerian child of basic school age is burdened by lack of
everything from electricity to good nutrition. One might argue that the past
generation studied with candles and lanterns, but they were not as hungry or
scared as today’s child. The environment is far challenging to learning than it
was few years ago. Sadly it is getting worse as no one is calling attention to
the decay. Learning environments are worse than manageable with students sitting on tyres or bare ground in some cases. Some of them have no shoes too.
Students of secondary school age have begun to take
interest in quick riches. They see images of glitz and glamour on television;
see not so educated uncles and relatives return with affluence while their
parents struggle with minimum wage or dwindling profits. It is a growing
concern that the Nigerian young person believes there is little hope in
education. Conduct a survey and you will be amazed to find that most secondary
school students as well as undergraduates believe the qualification is more
important than the education received. It is this belief that makes the
Nigerian student resort to examination malpractice and runs at all levels. Special centres emerged to ensure students pass at all cost. The end they argue justifies the means.
Thousands of Nigerian school leavers apply yearly to
foreign universities, most are not admitted despite paying sums in foreign
currency for admission to study abroad. The Nigerian graduate wishing to study
abroad for masters’ degree is not left out. Our education is in a terrible
state.
The foreign university craze is on the increase. Nigerian
dailies are filled with adverts to universities in every clime other than
Nigeria. Private universities entered the scene to provide an alternative to
the decay but their exorbitant fees, and attitude toward deserving poor
students make them out of reach.
One wonders how Nigeria will achieve the ‘vision 20 2020’
and other lofty ambitions set by politicians who find no need for the basics. Those
ambitions amount to building castles in the air. Surely, there must be some
wand to be waived by these politicians to achieve those dreams without adequate
investment in human capital development. Wake up ye politicians asleep at the
wheel, you have no such wand.
Like most issues or problems begging for attention in
Nigeria, they are all related and largely interdependent. We are two years into
this administration and the trend of poor education continues with no hope of
improvement thus far. It is sad to note that Nigerian polytechnics are on a
warning strike as at the time of this piece.
Solutions are not far-fetched. It begins with sincerity on
the part of leaders. It continues with proper implementation of the education
policies to the letter. Parents and guardians have a role to play in the
overall well being of their wards. Teachers can show more dedication and effort
despite the struggle. The society at large can show that education still pays.
The statistics show that Nigerians are eager to get a
first degree. First degrees are good but are not the only education available
in Nigeria. We have unconsciously made our young people believe that only first
degrees are proof of education. It is not correct. Polytechnics are under applied
to; technical education is totally ignored while only very few go to teaching
colleges. A great deal of reorientation can be done.
Education is a better safeguard of safety than a standing
army. The future of any country is her youth. An investment in the future
begins now not tomorrow. The decline in the quality of basic education in Nigeria is compelling. It is only not compelling our leaders to invest in tomorrow's leaders today.
Comments