It
is obvious that education is a very vital instrument for the growth and
development of any nation. This is acknowledged by the Federal Government of
Nigeria when she stated in her National policy
of education that education fosters the worth and development of the of
the individual for individual’s sake and for the general development of the
society (FRN 1989:7). In view of this, the persistent quest for education by
everybody in Nigeria is enormous and highly valued. However, our educational
system is plagued with high rate of poverty which does not pave way for most of
education for goal attainment.
Prior
to this, the first constitution enacted upon the country’s attainment of independence
in 1923 made specific references to education. Some of the previsions in that
constitution among others, included:
(a)
Education should
be encouraged as long as it is consistent with the national way of life.
(b)
Education should
be organized and regulated by law
(c)
Primary education
should be compulsory and free.
In
1956, a new charter particularly for education was issued which made it the
responsibility of the government to regulate and supervise the whole
educational system in Nigeria. Progressively, another charter which was meant
to be temporary was promulgated in 1964. The charter among other provisions,
stressed that equal chances should be given to everybody throughout the whole
educational system, including university education which from that date was
made free. In 1971, a new charter was promulgated in which most of the
provisions in the 1964 charter were ratified. Moreso, the independence of the
universities and research centres was established. From that era, the drive
towards literacy was made a national obligation in Nigeria.
It
is emphatically clear that free education since its in cession in Nigeria has
contributed immensely to the development of education because many schools at
all levels have been established in several parts of the country while
enrolment of children, and adults into different schools cannot be under
estimated or quantified. Also, research centres /institutes were established in
different places while government at all levels have sent many Nigerians to
overseas to study under free education while many states promulgated its edicts
on the free and compulsory education from pre-nursery to secondary schools. For
instance, the government of Ebonyi State under the able leadership of Dr. Sam
Egwu introduced free and compulsory education in 1999 which still in progress
till date while the Governor of Imo State Chief Rochas Okoroacha during his
imaginary speech on 29th May, 2011 as the new chief administrator
announced free education to all the pupils and students in both primary and
secondary schools in the state while some other states’ Governors are inclusive
in the that laudable trend.
In
the same vein, the federal government free education to all the pupils and
students up to junior secondary schools level while series of programs such as
universal primary education (UPE) was introduced in 1976, universal basic
education (UBE) among others.
The
introduction of free education in Nigeria has contributed to no small measure
on the development of education scientifically, technologically vocationally
and in all ramifications because many potential creativity among Nigerian
children have been attained due to the affordability of qualitative education
through its free trend to them. This therefore paved way to the production of
man-power in all areas of human endevaours while the issue of children/students
due to incessant increase in school fees and other divergent exploitation have
been curtailed.
In
addition, many schools have been well structured, equipped with qualified staff
and other necessary gadgets for effective of operation. As the result of this, some
of the Nigerians can compete favourably with others in developed countries
world-wide.
In
contrary, free education is never obtainable in practice but in principles
especially in under-developed and developing countries of the world. This is in
view of the fact that some logistics which are very important can be ignored or
abandoned by governments at different levels either intentionally or due to
financial constraints of the system(s) and other militating factors.
To
be candid, our nation’s education is a sick baby despite the introduction of
the education policy and other laudable programs initiated by different regimes
since independence in 1960.
For
the past 50 years or there about, we have crawled and trudged along through the
familiar but inconsistent education system. While we were under the clutches of
colonialism, we cried wolf that things had fallen apart. Alas! the yoke of
imperial subjugation is over, yet, we are still trailing behind and reeling
under a state of academic confusion. The literacy campaign so far is crying necessity.
There is an established fact that out of every ten Nigerians, seven are
illiterates. Sadly, there is no any organized effort to do away with this
appalling state of things. The average Nigerian is perplexed by the frequent
toying with our education culture by those expected to act as the vanguard.
There
has been series of experimentation of different education policies and programs
with inadequate literacy labouratory tools for better performance, observation
and conclusion. The failure of the universal primary education (UPE) launched
in 1976 due to inadequate availability of fund necessitated by corruption,
among other factors and the mass-oriented education program branded as
universal basic education (UBE) by president Olusegun Obasanjo in his two
regimes as military and civilian head of the states in Nigeria. the second
program failed according to the report due to lack of qualified staff with the
approved minimum educational qualifications of National certificate of
education (NCE) in primary schools (Ogbeifum and Olisa, the vanguard July 1,
2001. Essential materials such as books, classrooms, seats and even qualified
teachers are grossly lacking in our schools while the society’s leaders who
suppose to first educate the educators and motivate them to perform their
duties very diligently keep adamant Dike July 14, 2000).
In
addition, most of those schools are in dilapidating states while the recent but
seemingly unending teachers, strike with other civil and public servants that
has paralyzed the sector due to non-implementation of the N18,000 wage to
workers minimum was approved by the National houses law-makers and
endorsed by president Goodluck Jonathan
on March, 2011/
Worst
still, the legalization of certificates acquisition and presentation by the
government for employment and appointment to people without adequate knowledge
and skill acquisition has undermined the laudable program of free education in
Nigeria because many Nigerians are only interested in buying high certificates
for presentation whenever the need arises for their selfish interest (Eze 2009.
According
to UNICEF in its of the world’s children report in 1999 stressed that about 4
million Nigerian children have no access to basic education and that majority
of those that are ‘lucky’ to enter schools are given sub-standard education
(Alchaine, Jan 10, 1999). Today, there are about 48,242 primary schools in
public schools and 1,965,517 in private schools in Nigeria. Moreso, Nigeria has
7,104 secondary schools with 4,445,981 students (the guardian May 6, 1999 and
Dike 2001).
The
major trait to our educational system development in the prevailing
introduction of free education is political and economic instability. The
politicians mismanage the available resources with their selfish ambition and
self aggrandizement without given system.
It
is clear that the crisis in our educational system is neither exotic nor
circumstantially alien. Our tripartite institutions government, parents and
teachers created the problems and it is incumbent on them to find the solution
or where they fail, should equip themselves adequately with material evidence
to defend themselves in the court of posterity.