In one of its usual ways of giving Nigerians the impression that the government was busy working for them or doing something for their collective interest, the federal government recently announced plans to unbundle the existing 115 federal unity colleges in the country into basic and secondary schools.
This was disclosed by the Minister of State for Education, Dr Yusuf Sununu, at the opening of the Annual General Meeting of Principals of Unity Colleges in Abuja on Tuesday, September 17, 2024. He said the unbundling aligns with the National Policy on Education.
The minister explained that the unbundling of federal unity colleges would, among other things, attract more funding to improve infrastructure, address teachers' welfare, and create employment opportunities. He also said the ministry, with support from relevant government agencies, would ensure this is achieved in the shortest possible time.
Sununu further called for collaboration among principals as critical stakeholders to improve the educational landscape of schools.
Speaking at the occasion, the chairperson of the principals of federal unity schools, Dr Idowu Akinbamijo, said the meeting aimed to set the agenda for the coming year and build capacity for the tasks ahead. The event was themed: "Entrepreneurship Education: A Panacea for Self-Reliance and National Development."
The reality, however, is that there is actually nothing to unbundle as the existing structure in the federal unity colleges is based on the 3-year junior secondary school and 3-year senior secondary school components of the 6-3-3-4 system as defined by the country's National Policy on Education. A student admitted into a federal unity college spends six years in the same school; 3 years for junior secondary education and another 3 years for their senior secondary education.
Of the three gains which the minister explained would form the unbundling project, only one appears to be clearly feasible in practical terms, which is to "create jobs for the boys."
We believe this is what the minister meant when he mentioned creation of employment opportunities as one of the benefits of unbundling. We find it difficult to understand how the separation of junior secondary classes within one federal unity college could attract more funding to improve infrastructure. We are also left wondering how the unbundling exercise could address teachers' welfare.
If the minister's proposal materialises as intended, it would be a bundle of opportunities for those at the top to appoint new principals, vice principals, bursars, cashiers, and other auxiliary personnel to run the junior secondary schools that would be separated from the existing structure where both had co-existed for decades. The current structure has existed without any direct negative bearing on the curriculum contents of either the junior or senior secondary school component. This should not and cannot be a priority for the government at a time it is calling for a reduction in the cost of governance.
Again, the minister's announcement of the proposal brought to fore how persons put in charge of the all-important sector do not appear to properly appreciate the critical challenges confronting the sector.
Such appointees often fail to critically examine the education sector with a view to addressing strategic issues bedeviling the system. The crisis in Nigeria's education system goes beyond the simple splitting of one segment of secondary education from the other. And if allowed, state governments in the country would soon take after the Federal Ministry of Education to launch the unbundling project in their respective states as if it were the life-line which the ailing sector had been waiting for.
The attention which the 115 federal unity colleges need is that of equipping them to function optimally to deliver quality knowledge; not any unbundling fanfare that seeks to further deepen the crisis in the education sector.
In their current state of dilapidation and complete non-existent learning facilities where the curriculum expects students to acquire entrepreneurial skills in various vocations, including carpentry, welding, knitting, catering, electronics repair, tailoring, among others, the junior secondary schools are not likely to be anything better than what they currently are.
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The senior secondary school element of the 6-3-3-4 structure is the level of the system concerned with the preparation for higher education. In this case too, the unbundling would add no value if the necessary facilities are not provided for effective teaching and learning to take place.
While we call on the Minister of State for Education to make a better impact on the sector by properly examining the key challenges of Nigeria's system of education, we equally urge him to jettison his unbundling proposal. Government should instead equip them so that each component in the secondary school structure would function according to the mandate for which it was designed.
