A Review of the Basic Education Situation in Nigeria

• 72 percent of children who finish primary education in Nigeria do not make it to secondary school;
• Gross enrolment for girls at basic education level is lower than the gross enrolment for boys in Nigeria; 
• Girls recorded more promotion and completion rates at basic education level in Nigeria;
• As much as 38 per cent of primary school teachers and 24 per cent of junior secondary school teachers are unqualified;
• South southern and southeastern Nigeria are leading in promotion and completion rates for basic education. Northwestern and north-central Nigeria fall far below in promotion and completion rates for basic education in the country. 

A staggering revelation reveals that only 28% of kids who finished primary education make it to high school. Worse, though, about 3.7 million children don’t even complete elementary education. And of the sample 24.2 million who attain their First leaving Certificate, only 6.8 million further their academics. 

According to the Education Profile Indicators (2018) published by the Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC), only 86.81 per cent of primary school entrants complete primary school. The percentage is  lower for early childhood care development and education (ECCDE) and junior secondary education. For the former, we observe a completion rate of 35.47; private and public secondary institutions do not fare any better with a rate of 42.27. 

Interestingly, the data shows that primary education is the most appreciated in the country. We observe a gross enrollment of 27.9 million in primary schools, as against the measly 7.2 million and 6.8 million pupils enrolled in ECCDE and junior secondary schools, respectively.

The Gender Narrative

Sadly, the narrative of women not needing education still exists in some parts of Nigeria. The data revealed that there are slightly more male entrants in each of the three education categories in Nigeria. Males made up 50.1 per cent, 52 per cent, and 51.7 per cent of the enrolments in ECCDE, primary schools, and junior secondary schools. So, 17,946 more males in ECCDE, 897,917 more males in primary schools, and 231,317 more males in junior secondary schools.

However, males only had higher enrolment numbers. In performance, males mostly fell behind their female counterparts. Save for primary school level where males had lesser repetition records, females outperform males in the other assessments (i.e. promotion and completion rates). In fact, the data suggests that females may have more ability to perform better than their male counterparts at each of the three elemental education levels. More females completed ECCDE, primary education, and junior secondary education. Similarly, females outperform males in promotion across the three levels of basic education.

From a Regional Perspective

Of the 41.9 million basic education enrolments in Nigeria, 13.3 million are from the northwest. 7.8 million- southwest, 5.6 million from the south-south, and 4.6 million from the southeast. Northcentral and northeast had about 5.3 million enrolments each. Proportionally, 31.8 per cent of the enrollment was from the northwest alone. 18.6 per cent was from the southwest, and 13.4 per cent from the south-south. With just 11 per cent registration, southeastern Nigeria had the least share of the enrolments.

However, the data also showed that most of the children between ages zero and fifteen are in Nigeria’s northwest (33.7 million). Following closely is the southwest (21.3 million), northeast (16.5 million), south-south (16.3 million), and north central (16.2 million). Southeastern Nigeria had the least number of children between ages (zero and fifteen). Thus, the southeast being the least contributor to gross enrolment may not be out of place.

Further, the data showed that southeastern Nigeria had the highest completion rate for primary and junior secondary education in the country. North-central Nigeria fell far behind the average completion rate in the country. Whereas the average primary school completion rate was 85.7 per cent, the region recorded only 63.8 per cent completion rate at primary education level. We observe a significant decline in completion rate at junior secondary level in each of Nigeria’s six geopolitical zones. The average shifted almost by half of the primary school completion rate to 43.8 percent. The northwest and northeast had the least completion rates at junior secondary level with 33.98 per cent and 31.97 percent completion rate each, respectively.

Nigeria’s southeast also had the most promotion rate in the country at primary education level (75.51 per cent). South-south follows with 75.15 per cent; north-central and southwest correspond to 64.75 per cent and 58.67 per cent, respectively. The northwest had the least promotion rate at primary education level (49.9 per cent). At junior secondary education level, the south-south (60.93 per cent), southeast (75.51 per cent), and southwest (55.77 per cent) had the highest promotion rate in decreasing order. Again, the northwest had the least promotion rate (49.9 per cent).

How Qualified are the Teachers?

From the UBEC data, 37.82 per cent of primary school teachers are unqualified. The highest documented percentage of unqualified teachers at primary education level was in the northwest (42.52 per cent), southeast (41.82 per cent), and south-south (38.83 per cent). North-central Nigeria had the most percentage of qualified teachers at primary education level.

In junior secondary education, the figure corresponds to 24 per cent of unqualified faculty. Most of the unqualified teachers were in the south-south (29.23 per cent), northwest (24.76 per cent), and southwest (23.72 percent). With this percentage of unqualified teachers at primary and junior secondary education levels in Nigeria, one can only imagine the quality of essential education received in the country. Not to mention, the dismal teacher to learner ratio in the country.

According to UBEC, the teacher-learner ratio for Nigeria at ECCDE level is 1:630. Although the ratio is lower at primary school and junior secondary levels, it is still poor. Teacher-learner ratio at primary school level in Nigeria is 1:72; at junior secondary school level, it is 1:42. 

You, however, get a clearer sense of the dire state of things when you compare this figure with developed countries. ECCDE and primary school teachers in high-income countries taught about 14 pupils each in 2018. Data from the UNESCO’s website also showed that at junior secondary level, a teacher in a developed country taught just 13 students in 2018.

Recommendations

The situation of basic education in Nigeria has shown some gaps the government needs to address. First, the need to improve on the enrolment of female learners is paramount. Even though females have proven to fare better than male counterparts in school completion and promotion, they have a lesser proportion in basic education enrollment. It is, therefore, imperative that the government with the help of civic organisations and non-profits educate the masses, especially in rural communities on the importance of female child education. As a country, we need to rise above the norms of girl child education restriction. 

The state of completion rates is another point of concern. There is a genuine need to ensure completion of basic education in the country. Close to this is the need to ensure that all those who complete primary education successfully transition to junior secondary schools. Besides, the government can integrate apprenticeship and vocational programmes into basic education to deliver more comprehensive and qualitative education in the country. This can be modelled after the example in the US, the UK and other advanced economies. In essence, education will be relevant to the current realities and position learners for independence, profitability and productivity.

Teacher’s qualification is also an area of challenge that needs immediate attention. Just as the saying goes, a child is only as good as his/her teacher. Thus, the relevant ministries need to revamp employment policies for tutors in the country. In this regard, training opportunities can be extended to these teachers to boast competence. So also, we need to enforce best practices as contained in the national policy on education. Last, the government should make tutor hiring a priority, nationally, especially in rural communities.

More so, the government needs to revisit the educational strategy to improve academic performance, especially in Northern Nigeria. From the data, the southern states appeared to have fared better than the northern states. Involved stakeholders need not glance over this. They can take pointers from the southeast and south-south that have fared better in performance, even with sizable percentages of unqualified teachers. Also important is the state of ECCDE and junior secondary education; perhaps the government can champion campaigns to raise appreciation. 

Expert opinion

Regarding the state of basic education in Nigeria, DATAPHYTE’s correspondent reached out to Mr Hassan Soweto, National Coordinator for Education Rights Campaign (ERC). In response, Soweto correlated the variance in education performance between Northern and Southern Nigeria to the colonial and the early post-independence era. While the ruling elites in southern and western Nigeria inclined towards welfarist ideologies and provided compulsory free basic education, the northern ruling class were rather conservative and lacked appreciation for public education. Particularly in western Nigeria, building of schools, training of teachers, and compulsory education of school-age children was a priority of government. In his opinion, this was why states in the old southern and western region have fared better in education than northern states that lacked early appreciation of education.

Soweto further cited the underfunded nature of public education and commercialisation, even privatisation of education, to be another reason for the current state of things. While the result of this has manifested more in northern Nigeria, there has been a general decline in enrolment and education performance in the country. The prevalent economic challenges do little to ease the situation. Soweto also noted that the failure of the Nigerian state in delivering public education is a time-bomb waiting to explode. Even in the southern states that have fared relatively better, we may soon expect a steeper fall in performance. Already, many young people in southern Nigeria do not appreciate education and resort to prostitution and cyber crime.

Commenting on the gender disparity in education, Soweto noted that girls across the world have shown more capacity to excel in education than boys. Thus, denying them access to education is a serious crime. It is, therefore, important that Nigeria prioritises the education of its girl child. 

On the general education outlook, Soweto stated that it is time the Nigerian government prioritised funding of free, compulsory, and qualitative public education. Learning rooms should be adequately provided, and teachers should be trained to deliver efficiently. In addition, the government should interweave education into the economy so that the product of education would have significant economic value, leading to quality jobs within the country’s economy. He said,

“As we address the question of providing qualitative public education, we must ensure that we develop an economy that is strong enough to provide decent employment to the products of education. This alone could stimulate appreciation for education.”