Education has remained a social process in capacity building and maintenance of society for decades. It is a weapon for acquiring skills, relevant knowledge and habits for surviving in the changing world. Primary education is the foundation of every educated person’s sojourn into the academia. Since the rest of the educational system is built upon it, the primary level is the key to the success or failure of the whole educational system.
Public Primary education as a sub sector in the Nigerian educational system is suffering from a malady fast threatening to defy all manner of solution.
It shall be our business in this paper to examine the nature of primary schools in Nigeria, identify challenges being faced by the sub sector and thereafter suggest possible solutions to ameliorate the malady identified.
Theoretical background
Primary schools in Nigeria operate at the primary level of education, providing what may be called basic education. The federal, state and local governments have the constitutional responsibility for primary education but private sector, represented by individuals, communities, religious groups, and voluntary agencies are permitted to own and run primary schools. Private schools usually charge fees whilst public schools charge only a token amount in fees. Parents provide uniforms, text-books and other school materials in both private and public schools.
The management of primary education in Nigeria has been moving from one body to another. The federal government is the principal financier and controller of primary education. However, the reintroduction of the National Primary Education Commission (NPEC) through Decree No. 96 of 1993, along with the structure of State Primary Education Board (SPEB) and Local Government Education Authorities (LGEAs), make these bodies responsible for the management and fund allocation in the primary school sub-section. However the arrangement is made in such a way that no level of government is overburdened with the task of providing such service to members of the public. The federal government determines national policy, sets standards, and monitors performance. State governments are responsible for designing, developing, and delivering the service. Examples include designing the curriculum and preparing legislation.
In addition, local governments have a formal responsibility, dating from the Local Government Decree of 1976, for providing and maintaining primary education, subject to necessary assistance from the states (Federal Ministry of Education, Education Sector Status Report, Abuja, Nigeria, 2003).
Vaz (2004) stated that,” although financing primary education is a concurrent function of federal, state, and local governments, local governments bear the greatest financial responsibility. The local governments’ 20.6% share of the Federation Account results in two types of local funding for education. First, at the state level, a percentage of the local share (a “first charge”) is set aside for primary school teachers’ salaries and allowances. Local governments may then use a part of what remains for direct assistance to primary schools. They also contribute own-source revenues to primary education.”
Challenges Facing Primary Education System in Nigeria
According to the World Bank Group (1999) report on primary education, the following were identified as major challenges combating primary schools in Nigeria;
1. The school environment is not conducive to learning, pupil safety, security and health;
2. Classrooms space are inadequate, meaning that many children are either instructed in the open air or share classrooms with up to four other classes. As well as being insufficient in numbers, classrooms are generally in a poor state of repair;
3. There is little or no funding to meet maintenance or running costs, or to obtain supplies of instructional materials and other educational inputs. Schools lack offices, desks and other furniture, and recreational facilities, and have few or no toilet facilities;
4. Teacher effectiveness and student learning were found to be further limited by the inadequate supply of materials, frequent changes in recommended textbooks, the current textbook lending policy, and the late supply of record books;
5. Most teachers and head teachers were committed to their vocation. However, extremely low remuneration, poor working conditions, and inadequate facilities have inevitably eroded motivation and satisfaction;
6. Many teachers did not have the minimum qualification for primary school teaching; acute shortage of qualified teachers; recruitment of unqualified and untrained people into teaching and inadequate management staff;
7. In some areas, there were gender imbalances in staff cadres, reflected in the shortages of female teachers in much of the north of the country and of male teachers in parts of the south. Teaching was further disrupted by frequent and wholesale staff transfers. All of these factors have contributed to the declining prestige and status of teaching as a profession;
8. Regional imbalances in enrollments were found, with lower enrollment in the northern compared to southern zones, particularly with respect to female pupils. Attendance levels vary considerably between schools, and are often low in rural areas, especially during the farming season and on market days;
9. The transfer of management of the federal allocation for teachers' salaries and operational cost from LGAs to the NPEC and the State Primary Education Boards (SPEBs) had largely succeeded in ensuring that teachers’ salaries are paid. Nevertheless, the fact that Education Secretaries are responsible to SPEBs, rather than to the local councils which appoint them, has also often resulted in tensions between the LGA and SPEBs, conflicting pressures on the Education Secretaries, and a perception on the part of the local government that they are not meaningfully involved in the management of the schools and in the resources made available for their areas. SPEBs have also taken over a number of roles (e.g. for supplies and maintenance) originally envisaged as the responsibility of Local Government;
10. Little information is made available to the public regarding the budget and expenditure of Local Government Education Authorities ( LGEAs);
11. The supervision of primary schools is sometimes irregular and often inadequate;
12. Headmasters have no funds to respond to minor maintenance problems or to purchase supplies and incidentals; and
13. Many of the problems identified stem from the inadequacy of funding for primary education. Sufficient resources are still not being made available to local governments to build and maintain the necessary infrastructure, provide essential educational materials, or even to pay teachers a living wage;
Recommendations To The Identified Challenges
The World Bank Group in their paper highlighted probable solutions to the identified problems and for our own purpose we shall adopt same, and these are as follows;
- Create a matching grant facility to support community-based and PTA initiatives on primary education;
- Involve PTAs more formally in school management;
- Implement a pilot scheme for developing such new approaches to community involvement in primary education;
- Build capacity of PTAs and other CBOs and foster them where they do not exist;
- Salaries and benefits of teachers should be increased so as attract more professionals in the system;;
- Review teachers’ training programs;
- Provide in-service training opportunities;
- Improve design and appropriateness of distance learning courses;
- Develop incentive program to address gender imbalance;
- Implement minimum posting guidelines;
- Provide LGEA with funds for construction, repairs and furnishing;
- Entrust headmaster/PTA with funds for minor repairs;
- Review current maintenance arrangements and conduct a maintenance needs assessment;
- Give LGEA responsibility for acquisition and distribution of instructional materials (excluding textbooks);
- Use recommended texts for at least four years;
- Develop options for the provision of textbooks through loan or purchase in consultation with parents;
- Flexible scheduling of school terms and attendance;
- Community mobilization to promote enrollment, attendance and retention through advocacy programs;
- Education secretaries to brief LG Council regularly on plans, expenditures and achievements;
- LG Councils to ensure LGEA accounts are properly audited;
- Information on LGEA budgets and expenditures should be made available to the general public;
- Create an imprest account under the control of headmasters, in consultation with PTA;
- Training and means of transport for supervisors;
- Increase in per capita enrollment allocation; and
- Review and formalize cost-sharing arrangements among government agencies and other stakeholders
From the above, it can be deduce that the Nigerian primary school system is at the verge of a collapse unless bold and decisive steps are taken to salvage the situation. In fact most parents these days prefer to pay through their nose to have their wards in private primary schools. Even teachers of the public schools will not want to have their children in public schools.
There is the imperative for all and sundry to make concerted effort towards reversing the status quo. The task does not reside with any level of government alone; it is burden both the federal, state and local government as well as the private sector must shoulder if we must make any meaningful progress to save the system from imminent collapse. Suggestion such as the ones presented above will be a mighty leap forward.
References:
1. This brochure was compiled from a report titled Understanding Public Financing of Primary Education in Nigeria (July 15, 2004), by RTI International staff member Peter Vaz. The original report was a product of the policy component of the Literary Enhancement Assistance Project (LEAP), sponsored by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) and headed by the Education Development Center (USAID Award No. 620-CA-00-01-0011-00). LEAP is being implemented in the states of Lagos, Nasarawa, and Kano.
2. Paul A. F., et al(1998), Hard Lessons: Primary Schools, Community and Social Capital in Nigeria, Technical Paper No. 420, October, World Bank, Washington, D.C.
3. Subrahmanian, R. ,(2002), “Citizenship and the Right to Education” in IDS Bulletin Vol. 33 No. 2
4. All emphasis and italics are mine.
