Education in Nigeria: Flaws and sighs

When the Academic Staff Union of Nigerian Universities (ASUU) went on strike for close to four months last year, one of their main reasons for embarking on the action was the need for the Federal Government to address the educational system in federal and state universities. In my opinion, this is an understatement as all the sectors of education in the country need thorough "rebranding" starting from the primary, secondary to the tertiary institutions.??

Since there is no more common entrance from primary to secondary schools, most secondary schools end up producing half baked secondary school leavers. One need not be surprised that the in the just released National Examination Council (NECO) and GCE results, only just 1.8 per cent of the students passed. In fact, most of the students who passed were at credit level. This is so disheartening because a student, even though is unable to perform well in West Africa Examination Council (WAEC), usually would pass NECO which is our locally made product but in the last few years, mass failure in both exams is becoming the new trend.

Parents, who have wards in private secondary schools, not only pay exorbitant fees for WAEC and NECO exams, they also pay school fees without their wards having anything to show for it. In fact in those days when there were just public primary and secondary schools, the standard of education was higher and better than we have it now.

Individuals, groups, top government officials have talked and are still talking about the mass failure without really talking about what could be done to save the education system from total collapse. I think it’s high time those concerned wake up from their deep slumber.

Several people have talked about the causes of mass failure which include lack of conducive learning and teaching environment for students, lack of adequate infrastructural materials for students, lack of well-equipped science laboratories for students and so on and haven’t really talked about the attitude of teachers themselves to their work.

The teachers really have a lot to do in improving the standard of education. They should try as much as possible to attend to the students as at when needed, attend classes always and they should know that the future of this great nation lies in their hands. The Federal Government must try to organise and create avenues for teacher’s training periodically and also increase the teacher’s salaries scale.

Also, parents should try to checkmate their wards. In addition, students themselves most especially the ones in secondary and tertiary institutions should know that they are the architects of their fortunes and misfortunes as the case may be so diligence, effective reading etc are keys to attaining success.

In conclusion, the government, teachers and those concerned should know that we are the future leaders of this great nation and like Nelson Mandela the former president of South Africa once said, "Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change a nation".