Around the 1970s the quality of Nigerian education was the pride of the
black race, the envy of many developing and developed nations of the
world. At that time, it was alleged by some that an American degree was
equal to a sixth form certificate in Nigeria. After about three decades
of systematic mismanagement by both military and civilian rulers, the
Nigerian education has so plummeted that what we have today is a mere
shadow of its past glory.
It has been said that the criteria for assessing any educational system
are: the curriculum of study, the state of infrastructural facilities,
the quality of students, the quality and quantity of staff, the
competence of leadership, the level of funding and the direction and
consistency of policy (Osisioma, 2002).
In the area of curriculum and policy, the main problem is not with
formulation as such but implementation. The implementation of laudable
policies has often been hampered by incessant change of government,
unstable academic calendars, poor and inadequate facilities, lack of
motivation for staff, insecurity of life and property and the unwillingness of
the products to make positive contribution to society. As a result of
all these, the National Policy on Education which sought to inculcate the
ideals enumerated earlier, has rather turned around to churn out
morally decadent and intellectually inept child who is a threat to both
parents and society. The Nigerian youth are yet to imbibe the right type of
values and attitudes. Rather, Nigerian schools and campuses have
become breeding grounds for cultism, gangsterism, hooliganism, armed
robbery, sexual promiscuity, examination malpractices, and a host of other
vices. Instead of producin!
g pragmatic and altruistic students, the Nigerian educational system
churns out students who are egoistic, individualistic and escapists who
are not interested in solving society’s problems.
Another area of serious decline is that of staffing. *Time has gone
when teachers were the best both in character and learning. Today,
teachers at all levels of the educational system do more of ‘cheating’ than
‘teaching’. Teachers have become businessmen in academic garb. A
situation where teachers are making industry of copyrights violation by way of
‘handouts’ sales to unsuspecting students at exorbitant prices, while
the students themselves are just too glad to do less schooling, does not
augur well for our educational system and the future of our country.
What we have today is a pathetic story of pathetic teachers producing
pathetic citizens.
In the area of leadership, merit is no longer a factor in appointing
Vice-Chancellors and Provosts of Universities and Polytechnics
respectively in most cases. Consequently, what we have today are politicians in
the academic robes who parade themselves as leaders of tertiary
institutions in the country. Successive governments in Nigerian have not helped
matters at all. Their tactic of systematic neglect has turned Nigerian
educational institutions to an arena of the absurd. Apart from
under-paying teachers (which had led to massive brain-drain), the money
allocated to education falls kilometres short of the UNESCO recommended 25%
of annual budget. For instance, in 2003 only a paltry 1.83% was
allocated to education. No wonder that what we have today in many of Nigerian
institutions of learning are “leaking roofs, unpaved floors, totally
unsanitary conditions, and a general picture of neglect that reduces some
institutions to the status of glorified animal pens” (Akebukola, c!
ited in Osisioma, 2002). Having highlighted some of the problems
currently plaguing the Nigerian educational system,the next article would deal with ways on curbing the anomalies.