The current problem of the Nigerian Educational System

Written by Sale Ngbede Sunday

The current problem of the Nigerian Educational System

Education is a methodology that begins at birth and continues until one dies. No wonder that the ancient Egyptian philosopher, Ptaohotep stated that man at birth is a tabula razz which means a clean slate.

This means that every child's mind is blank and it is only what he hears or sees that he or she would learn from by adding to his/her blank sheet of a mind.

It is therefore crucial for parents and guardians alike to bring the child in an upright moral and religious way in order to give the child good manners and other great standards of living.

However, with all these said and done, we cannot fully guarantee the total control of the minds of children since we cannot be with them 24/7 and even if we do employ people to be with them 24/7, it will still not be feasible as you might be hindering them to really fully understand how it should be when a child grows up with freedom while having the pleasure of whom to consult in terms of learning more as well as to decipher what is good from evil and vice versa. Freedom with direction from the parents gives them more confidence to face the crowd.

Even if you can control a child to a large extent at home within your jurisdiction, you should also note that there are other factors that can corrupt the mind of a child as he grows older in or out of school like the friends they mingle with, the problem of inferiority complex, the type of teachers at school, their learning environment, etc. Hence, the educational processes can be hindered, corrupted, or great depending on the aforementioned key points above.

Education is the key influence on generations that aren't yet accustomed to the social life like most grown ups. Therefore, the Nigerian educational system starts at home till they are able to go to a proper school and until they become a graduate from a reputable tertiary institution.

This implies that education begins at the pre-school level until graduation and then ends at the point of death. In Nigeria, for those of us that aren't born with silver spoons, we obtained our first level of pre-school education in what we call 'the akara school' which is also known as creche. We moved on to the kindergarten level of education from creche, from kindergarten to nursery school, from nursery to primary school, from the primary school to the Junior Secondary School (JSS) education, from JSS to the Senior secondary School (SSS) education and then to the tertiary institutions where a student's graduate with a bachelor's degree or other degrees depending on the type of institutions from any field of studies.

The tertiary educational system in Nigeria is a broad concept in the sense that one can decide to go to a college of education, a diploma college, a monotechnic, a polytechnic, or a university either private or public (state and/or federal). People still continue to study after attaining a degree from any tertiary institution of their choice by getting professional certifications in order to stand taller in the Nigerian Labour Market.

The benchmark of education in Nigeria that can improve on the process of eradicating illiteracy should be the senior secondary school (SSS) level of education or at least, the primary level of education.

It has been proven in Nigeria that some educated persons that either obtained the SSS3 or the tertiary level of education still do have a weak mind-power and brain, and they had been found to have been easily manipulated by both political and non-political entities.

If these educated persons can be easily manipulated which has been seen in Nigeria thus far, then what can be said about the uneducated ones? Just think it through. I still believe that education is power and it can both build and sustain the economy of a thriving state.

Even though the Nigerian educational system has its various good parts as we can see from the various mathematical, sciences, etc. victories from various competitions that her citizens have championed thus far as well as earning various scholarship educational programs in diaspora and coming out top of their classes amongst others; there are still some enormous problems that needs to be taken care of in order to make it even better than what it is now because Nigerians are smart and these problems are much but I would not budge into the temptation of making our educational system look bad or worst. And so, I'll mention just a few namely;

1. Unconducive learning environment.

There are many schools in the remote regions of the country where some students still sit on the floor/ground to learn, and do they have access to good textbooks as well as good black or white boards.

2. Improper Security.

The recent happenings of kidnapping and ransoming is now a trend to weep for which needs to come to an end so that students and teachers alike can confidently go to school to improve on their cognitive abilities. 

3. Poor Drainage System.

I wept and cried internally at times when I saw some students being drenched by rain outside their classes as a normal routine when they didn't come with their umbrellas and it pains me most when the students get soaked in their classes as water resides in them (classes).

4. Wicked Teachers.

Some teachers beat their students uncontrollably and that shouldn't be the case. There's always a way to punish them and I'll advise that schools allow them (tutors) to undergo some courses on teaching and soft control in order to obtain more humanity skills. 

5. Increases in parental interference.

Aside from a teacher's wickedness as mentioned in point 4 above, many parents have given their wards the strength for them to insult their teachers and look down on them; parents have failed to note that teaching isn't for teachers alone but from them too; parents don't want to even hear that a teacher spoke to their ward with words of correction even though it might sound harsh at times since its the truth of course and so, they've made teachers timid either because of their high status in the society or because of their business, military and paramilitary connections and/or backgrounds.

6. Lack of Power Supply.

When there's no power (light 💡) and the students’ parent aren't able to either get a small plant (generator) or even afford to fuel their generators in a recurring manner then students in a long run might not be able to properly study at home unless they strain their eyes when make use of other lighting devices and objects like the bush lambs, candles, moon lights, and/or rechargeable lambs (still suitable to a large extent though 🤷 ♂).

7. Lack of continuous learning.

Many teachers, especially in the tertiary institutions, tend to use the same note for years without changing a word. They adopt the same pattern of lecturing for years even in this ever changing educational and scientific fields of study. Evolution is key. We are supposed to unlearn, learn and relearn. Hence, the need to fine tune our learning curve. They don’t need to make a huge change but a small change over time can make both a huge difference and a huge impact in building the capacity of the future Nigerian workforce.

8. Increase in tuition fees both in secondary and tertiary level of education.

Direct Explanation: many students had to drop out from school because they could no longer bear the burden of paying these high tuition fees.

9. Lack of scholarships.

Governmental bodies, NGO's and even private schools should give some of their brilliant minds scholarships and you would see the positive educational tussles between students to do better.

10. Peer Pressure.

Some students tend to be pressured by their counterpart students having an opposite side of a coin in terms of behaviors and attitudes into doing what they normally can’t do due to their lack of exposure and real parental guidance.

I'll advise parents to study their children very well and allow them to have access to them. If they have either a problem or a need then they can easily consult them. I say this, because some parents appear like a devil in front of their children or ward because of the way the kids get manhandled by them (parents and/or wards).

11. I didn't make it then; so, you shouldn't make it?

Some teachers and lecturers alike won't award a student their correct scores/grades because they themselves didn't make an ‘A’ in a particular course or didn't get a first class or second class upper in their CGPA. So, they make absolutely sure that a student fails. Other times could be that they have had the student at heart and have meant by all means for them to either fail woefully or pass with a credit (woefully too).

It is worthy to note that you can add your many points that you know aside from the above 11... because the list is surely unending depending on either what you’ve experienced before or heard from someone else’s experience.

There's still hope for those non-educated adults out there for them to obtain more education whether or not they are ‘h**dlums’. Hence, the need to mention that there are two forms of education namely;

1. Formal Education.

The form of education with a hierarchical structured graded system from creche to kindergarten, from kindergarten to primary school, from primary school to secondary school and then to the tertiary institutions plus other possible future obtainable certifications.

2. Non-Formal Education.

Here, there is no hierarchical structure of learning in the sense that  they don't pass through the level of creche to the tertiary institutions in a class with chronological order or grading system. Some typical examples of a non-formal education include adult education and adult literacy schools.

It is easier to get adults that aren't ‘h**dlums’ per say to study than those that might be categorized as one in the sense that they have a more respite and serene brain to be willing to unlearn, learn and relearn as long as there are means for them to provide for their families as well as survive on their own too than those that are categorized as ’h**dlums’. But all hope is not lost if we sensitive these so called ‘h**dlums’ infested adults to learn and we set up therapy sessions by getting both volunteering psychologists as well as a few paid ones to psyche them out of their ‘h**dlums’ status as well as to bring them to the reality of success then it would be fine.

So, many things to add but the full social media space won't be enough. So, I rest my case.

END.