Emmanuel Edukugho
1 January 2009
opinion
As 2008 rolled away, the year will be remembered for the turbulence, turmoil, upheaval, neglect and stagnation that characterised education sector.
The delivery of education to the people at all levels has not met national and international expectations. Our country is yet to understand that an investment in education or knowledge pays the best interest.
An Hausa proverbs says that "lack of knowledge is darker than night." Darkness still envelopes the nation mainly because education has not been given its right priority. Wealth, it has been said used to be based on the ownership of land, then more recently on the capacity to make things.
But increasingly today, it is based on knowledge and on the ability to use the knowledge.
However, education merely for the sake of accumulating knowledge is useless. And knowledge that makes no tangible contribution to practical living is a dead knowledge.
The seven-point agenda of President Umaru Yar'Adua had education component in the form of human capital development. His administration inherited an education reform package put in place by the government of Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, without legislative backing. The reform was anchored on public-private collaboration in the funding and management of schools.
Most of 2008 saw the dismantling of structures and reversal of the reform policies initiated between 2006 and 2007 by the Obasanjo regime. Some analysts believed it was like throwing away the baby with the bath water.
The Public Private Participation (PPP) arrangement for running of Federal Government owned unity schools was jettisoned. The reason given was that unity colleges were symbols of national unity and should not be privatised whatsoever.
The consolidation of tertiary institutions and conversion of polytechnics and colleges of education not degree-awarding institutions were put on hold.
While some of these policies were overturned, the erstwhile Minister of Education who was eventually removed, Dr. Igwe Aja Nwachukwu, lacked focus, was without direction and did not formulate policies required the move education forward.
A core strategic objective of the Education Sector Reform spearheaded by Obiageli Ezekwesili is the promotion of an education system that enhances character and learning devoid of examination malpractice.
There was an integrity manual that outlined what supervisors, invigilators and examiners must do to defend and promote the ethics and integrity of public examinations. Because the integrity of the managers of the process is crucial to the attainment of this objective, there was determination to identify and remove examiners, supervisors and invigilators who did and abet malpractice.
Nothing was seen to have been done in 2008 to implement and consolidate the integrity efforts. Leakages of public examinations question papers even days before sitting were so widespread that they were being hawked in the streets of Lagos and some other major cities across the country.
Whether WAEC, JAMB, NECO, NABTEB, leakages were rampant, indicating that persons associated with the process of conducting these examination, evaluation and assessment were not ethics-friendly, prone to corrupt tendencies.
Examination Ethics is defined as the respect for the rules, regulations, expectations, codes of conduct and moral principles governing the conduct of assessment and evaluation systems, not only in educational institutions, but in all sectors of endeavour.
Even internal examinations at primary, secondary and tertiary institutions witnessed a lot of malpractices, sale of marks and grades to undeserving students. Attainment of examination ethics gives practical meaning to the concept of academic excellence.
It is worthy to note that in the last JAMB, results were released within three weeks which was a record time, under the new registrar, Prof. Dibu Ojerinde, at a time that people were clamouring for its scrapping.
Admission into universities still stood at about 10 per cent of the total number who sat for University Matriculation Examination (UME), in spite of emergence of several private universities into the system.
For those who can pay the fees, admission into some of these private universities was on cash-and-carry basis. Complaints were rife that the post-UME test has been turned into money-making exercise by several universities - especially public-owned.
Controversy trailed the reinstatement of sacked 49 UNILORIN lecturers which ASUU vowed to continue fighting for until justice is done. The union claimed it reached an understanding with President Yar'Adua on the matter which made the lecturers to suspend their strike action. But the government did not shift ground, saying the due process of the law must run its full course as the case is in the Supreme Court for final adjudication. ASUU is still spoiling for war.
The polytechnics threatened nationwide strikes over alleged non-implementation of CONTISS 15 and a number of agreements. The Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Polytechnics (SSANIP) and the Academic Staff Union of Polytechnics (ASUP) protested over the matter, but unfortunately, the Education Ministry, the National Board for Technical Education (NBTE) and the Rectors ignored them.
Two ultimatums were issued, but government did not take the advantage by entering into negotiations and dialogue with SSANIP.
The mother of all the strikes that engulfed the education sector in 2008 was that declared by Nigeria Union of Teachers (NUT) over the Teachers Salary Scale (TSS). The strike lasted for nearly five weeks in which primary and secondary schools in the country were closed down. But for the intervention of state governors, most probably, the strike would have persisted longer.
The NUT had demanded for an enabling circular from Federal government on implementation of TSS whose refusal led to the strike. Government claimed it will amount to a breach of the constitution to set salaries for teachers in the states as education is on concurrent legislative list. Teachers disagreed, insisting that issues concerning labour, welfare, salary and the minimum wage of workers belong to the Federal Government.
The cost of the strike to the country was enormous. Many hours of learning periods were lost, public examination by WAEC, N ECO, common entrance were stopped or cancelled, while terminal examinations for primary and secondary children in public schools were postponed. This brought so much pain and agony to parents and guardians.
Infrastructural decay remained unabated as budget allocations to education went mainly into recurrent and personnel costs, leaving very little for capital projects. The situation is pathetic with schools having no sufficient chairs, desks, tables, while most classrooms were overcrowded. School buildings were crying for renovation, many of them still either roofless or with leaking roofs, no water, no toilets, recreational facilities not there while only few school blocks were constructed. Most affected are primary and secondary schools across the country.
The Lagos State Government launched an offensive against illegal and sub-standard private schools, closing down many and relocating the pupils and students to other proximate public schools.
The National Universities Commission (NUC) said it has uncovered 30 private universities illegally operating in the country without license.
About 10 million children are not in school as at 2008, a sad reflection of the inadequacy of Universal Basic Education (UBE) scheme. Due to stringent conditions, most states cannot access UBE funds required to provide infrastructure and facilities for increased enrolment into the primary schools.
Confused implementation of the new basic education system seriously retarded development of this segment.
Education for all seemed to be far off the target, although government said illiteracy level has come down considerably.
More Nigerians can now read and write, with numeracy skills. Government acknowledged it cannot meet most of the targets in the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), particularly in respect of education, health, water and housing.
As the year was coming to an end, the Federal Ministry of Education announced it has cancelled the admission of pupils into unity colleges after conducting entrance examination and interview. The education ministry said the entrance examination was conducted in error, contravening the UBE Act of 2004.
The past year saw the removal of two minister of education - Dr. Igwe Aja Nwachukwu and Dr. Agada, dropped in a cabinet shakeup. A new Education Minister, Dr. Sam Egwu was appointed.
Cultism still held sway in tertiary institutions with several students killed in clashes between rival cult members. The NYSC survived in spite of massive logistic problems that affected mobilisation of graduates for the scheme. Poor allowances, lack of accommodation, irrelevant postings, insecurity dogged the scheme in 2008.
The school mid-day meal for pupils suffered setback as nobody in the education sector bothered to re-awaken the scheme. So, children go to school hungry.
Student unionism still banned in several universities, blocking the voices of students on national issues and preventing them from administering their affairs through democratic tradition.
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