The consensus is that the quality of education in Nigeria has fallen to an abysmal level. Worst hit by this decline are the public schools, which have more or less turned into breeding grounds for cultists and miscreants. Assistant Editor, CHINWE MADUAGWU, reports.
Chidera is an SS3 student of one of the pubic secondary schools at Ilasamaja, Mushin, Lagos, sitting for the on-going West African School Certificate Examinations (WASCE), but her understanding, vocabulary and command of the English language, which is the language of communication, leave one wondering how she got to the point of sitting for WASCE. The saddest aspect is that she is an arts student hoping to study Law in the university.
Chidera’s case is not an isolated one rather she is a prototype of what is found in public schools at the different levels in Nigeria. Her story is the story of many others from North to South and East to West.
But it has not always been like this. A lot of prominent personalities in Nigeria living or dead were products of public schools. This, therefore, begs the question, what went wrong? In answering this pertinent question, the way forward might be found.
Western or formal education was introduced into Nigeria in 1842 at the primary level by Christian missionaries. In 1859 the first secondary school, CMS Grammar School, Lagos, was established.
One would have expected that given the number of years that formal education has lasted in the country, it would have matured and been properly fine-tuned by now but sadly that is not the case especially with the public sector.
The standard of education in the public schools has fallen such that majority of the secondary school leavers can hardly string two correct sentences together.
Speaking to The Next Edition, the Principal of one of the Public Secondary Schools in Lagos Mainland who spoke under anonymity noted that the blame cuts across from the government to parents and to students. “The level of attention and seriousness given to education in the past and even up to the 80s is not the same as now. Then schools had teachers but now we are only managing. Then students were very serious with what they were doing; now they are not serious. They (students) put eyes on other things now. Even the parents of these days don’t seem to know or appreciate the value of education especially those in the public schools because they don’t monitor their children.
“Now we see that the issues with cultism and drugs are rampant even in our primary schools. In the days of old, we had them but it was very minimal. It’s now that you’ll see small children carrying coke bottle with tramadol to make them high.”
She touched on the remuneration of teachers saying, “When we talk about salaries of teachers, then though it was smaller things were cheaper, now it’s more but things are very expensive.”
What then is the way forward? The Principal said; “The way forward is to first educate parents to be looking into their children’s education. Parents of these days are just not bothered; they prefer buying aso-ebi, gold and other material things than buying things that their children need for school. They need to understand that there is more gain in educating their children rather than buying things that are perishable. Education is the only legacy they can leave for their children because even if you have money, companies and factories, if you don’t educate your children they will be the ones to squander the things.”
On the part of government she urged more commitment especially in equipping the schools. “We have good teachers in public schools but the environment is not encouraging. Government should make the environment more conducive for learning.”
She also advocated that education in public schools should not be made totally free. “I believe that the fact that parents are not paying in public schools is one of the reasons they seem not to care because anything you put money into you’ll want to see value and results. They even expect government to be buying sandals and exercise books for their children. They are not serious because they are not paying anything, same goes for the children. So even if it’s as small as N2, 000 per term it will be a wakeup call for them because then they want to get value for their money. I don’t support this whole free education policy. Even if it is a stipend, let parents pay something.”
She laid the problem of lack of good command of English at the gate of primary schools including private primary schools. Her words, “some of the primary schools teachers don’t know their right from their left. When the foundation is faulty, what will the righteous do? If Government is really serious about having qualitative education In Nigeria they should start from the grass root which is the primary school.”
Mr. Joseph Bamidele, an investment banker and product of public school, believes that the proliferation of private schools shifted attention off the public schools thereby contributing to the decline in the quality of products from there. “The best teachers go to private schools. The right attention is no longer being given to the public schools. Government really needs to resuscitate that sector. They should invest in teachers and facilities. If you go to some schools, the science labs have no equipment,” he said even as he pointed out that some of the deficiencies are caused by corruption which has eaten deep into the public school sector.
He spoke further, “I’m sure there are yearly allocations for equipping or refurbishing the schools but where do those allocations go? It’s all due to the level of corruption in the society. If you begin to trace the monies released or earmarked as allocation to the ministry of Education for schools, you’ll find out that the monies may have gone to people who have nothing to do with education
Mr. Bamidele also expressed the view that the notion of being free might be one of the major problems facing public schools. According to him because public schools are free, workers tend to be lackadaisical in their attitude to work. “If you want to get admission into a private school, you know what it entails, you know the interview and appraisal you’ll go through but if you want to get into a public school nobody cares. I don’t know if there’s any performance appraisal, nobody seems to be appraising anybody,” he lamented.
Commenting on the provision of text books for the students by the government, he said, “It’s just English and mathematics that they give in the name of giving free books. Often times it is only exercise books they give them and then make noise that they have given books. It’s a political gimmick just to be recorded somewhere.” He proposed that the government should revisit the idea of free education as that might make people more committed.
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On the lack of commitment by students Mr. Bamidele said; “I will rely on the proverb that when a fish wants to rotten it starts from the head. When the top is corrupt, the head masters/head mistress and even the teachers themselves are not focused or dedicated, what then do you expect from the students? What result do you think will come out from the students? We all know what happens in public schools these days. In years past, you dare not face a teacher not to talk of talking back, but these days everything has gone haywire.
“Naturally, human beings are lazy when it comes to work, they need to be forced, how much more students. Students must be students, children will also be children and that’s why the teachers need to be committed, but when the teachers are not there or ready to do that. You can’t really blame the students much.”
For him, the way forward begins with parents inculcating the right values in their children right from the early age. Acknowledging that most parents are busy looking for how to put food on the table, he advised that everything should not be left to the teachers.
According to Mr. Bamidele, non-payment of fees should, however, not be a reason for parents not to demand value from schools and teachers. He said, “as a matter of fact simply taking your children to school, there are some basic deliveries expected from the school or teachers that are supposed to be standard. I have a home where I can keep my children but I’ve taken the pain to take them to a school, there are some minimum deliveries I expect from the school.” He conceded though that for not paying fees there’s a level to which someone can make demands from the school.
However, he insisted that government has the responsibility to demand for their maximum performance. “If the teachers know that they will be accountable they won’t do whatever they want but their employer, which is the government is not there to make them accountable.”
Another respondent, an English teacher with a government secondary school in Surelere, who also pleaded for anonymity said that public schools are in such deplorable state because government was playing politics with them. Hear her, “We are where we are because they are playing politics with the lives of these children. They told them they are giving them free education so parents believed with free education the Government will provide the necessary things the students need like textbooks for core subjects such as English, Mathematics, Chemistry, Physics and Biology; but Government only provided Mathematics and English textbooks and these are not even enough to go round the children.”
She also accused parents of not showing interest in their children’s studies. “Their parents don’t believe in education so they don’t even care if their children have the necessary things to do well in school.” She disclosed to The Next Edition that most of the children were learning a trade which takes up their time after school and also corrupts their learning.
She explained further, “after teaching them English in school; even when you teach them how to pronounce words in the class they will laugh at you and make comments like ‘my teacher is talking like an oyibo woman o o!’ Once they get home, most of them especially those who live in the slums, for lack of a better word, will revert to their mother tongue which is what their parents speak to them and this usually affects them. It is also their mother tongue that they use at their place of trade, or pidgin English. When they come to school they will be transliterating, that is changing directly from mother tongue to English. To change them becomes a problem because they have adapted to that type of language.”
The way forward the teacher said is for parents to put interest in their children’s education. Beyond that, she suggested that parents should take up some financial responsibilities toward their children’s education. “It is the government that pays WAEC fees for the children presently but if the parents are made to pay for the WAEC then they will monitor their children. They know when their children are doing well, when they are doing the right things and when they are doing the wrong things.” She further advised that parents should try and buy textbooks for the children. “I don’t support total free education; parents should have some financial commitment to their children’s education even if it’s 10 kobo. When they do that they can monitor the children and ask questions when they don’t do well.”
Mrs. Moji Awodiji, a former Principal and now Private School Proprietress, insisted that teachers and principals should be more committed to their jobs. She lamented that students in school uniforms are seen outside as late as 9 a.m eating at bukkas, yet teachers and principals do nothing about it. She also lamented the students’ poor command of English.
Mrs. Awodiji shared an experience with The Next Edition; “I saw a set of boys and asked them, where are you going to? They said we are going to where a ti ma wo moto (we are going to where we will take a bus). I asked their class and they said they were in SS2. I gathered all of them and said we are going to catch a bus and they laughed because their understanding of ‘catch’ is using the hands to hold on to something and there’s nobody to teach them.”
According to her, teachers are also found wanting. “An NCE teacher in my school some time ago wrote ‘the man have many shirts’ on the board for her pupils. It is what the teachers give the students that they will live with.”
She, however, was not in agreement with the views that parents are not interested in their children’s academics in public schools because they are not paying school fees, disclosing that even in the private schools some parents still do not show interest in their children’s studies.
The way forward for Mrs. Awodiji is for forums to be organized where parents and teachers will sit together and come up with what they think can be done to improve the quality of education. But she said that might be impossible as most parents do not turn up for Parent Teachers Association’s (PTA) meetings.
She also suggested that the formators of teachers, especially the Colleges of Education should double up their efforts in the training of the teachers.
As John Dewey, an American Philosopher and educational reformer said, “Education is not preparation for life; Education is life itself.” If majority of the youths who are the future of the nation do not get the proper education necessary for the responsibilities ahead of them, then going by John Dewey’s position one can only say that the life of the nation is gradually coming to an end. The time to wake up is now.