FUNCTIONAL EDUCATION SYSTEM IN NIGERIA: CHARTING A NEW COURSE OR NAVIGATING WITH DISTORTED COMPASS By: Epiphany Azinge, SAN, Being a Lecture Delivered at the 2013 Alumini Dinner of St. Patrick College Asaba Old Boys (Abuja Chapter) On 7th September, 2013 PROTOCOL INTRODUCTION It is indeed an honour and privilege for me to be invited to speak on this auspicious occasion of a dinner party organised by St. Patrick College Asaba Old Boys Association (Abuja Chapter) in honour of Chief A.O. Okafor. To many of us Chief A.O. Okafor symbolizes all that is good about St. Patrick College Asaba. He remains a role model for a generation seriously searching for identity and unable to come to terms with values of the past whist still consumed by the contradictions of the present that places more emphasis on wealth, power, authority and mediocrity. Chief A.O. Okafor excelled in public service of this country by sheer dint of hard work and rose to the pinnacle of his career. He distinguished himself as a consummate administrator to the service of his fatherland through innovative policy decisions and effective leadership. His prodigious intellect and well cultured manners sustained him all through his career and made him the toast of the public service in his days. It can therefore not be denied that St. Patrick’s College Asaba prepared him effectively for the challenges of high office imbued in him and attributes of honesty, integrity, hard work, courage, discipline, humility and patriotism. But these were not his most discerning attributes. Chief A.O. Okafor has remained a practising Catholic in all ramification of that expression. His religiosity and morality undoubtedly are his ennobling characteristic and God has blessed his worthy servant abundantly. On behalf of all Patricians worldwide, I want to congratulate Chief A.O. Okafor for his unblemished career, for his leadership to St. Patrick’s Old Boys in Abuja and more importantly for a life dedicated to the service of God and humanity. DREAM OF FOUNDING FATHERS OF ST. PATRICKS COLLEDGE ASABA When the Marion Brothers conceptualised the idea of setting up St. Patricks College Asaba in the 1940s the vision was succinctly captured in a trilogy of (a) First class education (b) Character formation and (c) Christian principles and tenets. This was a vision that was more profound than what obtained in Universities all over the world at that time. Up till date certificates are awarded to university students adjudged by senate to be worthy both in learning and character to graduate from the university. The standard in St. Paticks College was thus more profound and uniquely holistic than what obtained elsewhere. It was therefore little wonder that in spite of being a secondary school, the standard was so high that it was proudly referred to as the “University on the Niger”. The trilogy worked, the students excelled and humanity benefited. The trilogy worked in the pioneer students, blossomed in many old boys of the schools from the 40s down to the 80s and 90s. The trilogy found expression in the Akhile’s, the Maduamezia’s, the A.O. Okafor’s, the Konwea’s, the Ambrose Alli’s, the Okadigbo’s, the Onyegun’s, the Egbobiamen’s, the Ndili’s, the John Edozien’s, the J.B Azinge’s, the Odogwu’s, the Chidi’s and host of other olds boys that passed through St. Patricks college Asaba before the advent of the Civil War in 1966. Not even the ravages of the war was enough to dilute the philosophy of the trilogy. Thus students that came to St. Paticks College after the war continued from where their forbears stopped. In this category are the Ogeah’s, the Anyuameluhor’s, the Mbafefor’s, the Okolo’s, the Idigbe’s, the Ofili Okonkwos, the Obiago’s, the Nwokobia’s, the Uraih’s, the Allanah’s, the Awodu’s, the Chukwurah’s, the Aninye’s, the Nnana Kalu’s, the Okechukwu’s, the Anoliefor’s, the Igbeka’s, the Njokanma’s, the Okonjo’s, the Molokwu’s, and a litany of other products of the school that was highly sought after by successive generations of parents and their children. Through the achievement of the Old Boys, it was easy to measure the successes or otherwise of the trilogy of founding fathers of St. Patrick’s College Asaba. More significantly, a greater percentage of students of St. Patricks College were able to gain admission abroad immediately upon graduation. Many attended the best schools in Europe and United State of America. That was a measure of its recognition and acceptability. Any keen observer of our education system in the last 20 years will readily attest to the rapid decline in standards and quality of products of our various institutions. The rating cuts across the primary schools and the secondary schools. Many have ventured to argue that the decline was as a result of a civil war, to others it is a fallout of population explosion. To some it is as a result of oil boom and free money in circulation. Yet many others are tempted to believe that poor morale of teachers and lack of adequate salary for teachers is responsible. Many simplistic solution have been proffered. Starting from abolition of Higher School Certificate to introduction of 6334 system. JAMB became the reference point for admission to Universities. Its patent failure has pushed the universities to resort to post JAMB examination. In the midst of all these, no noticeable change is recorded. Rather people found escape route in schools and universities in Europe, USA and South Africa. Now a sizeable portion of students cross over to Ghana for higher education. Those who can afford it now move to private universities possibly in search of long abandoned trilogy philosophy of the founding fathers of St. Patricks. Time has not matured for us to properly assess the products of private universities. But not much hope appears to exist as employers of labour still question the quality of products of our higher institutions including products of private universities. For those who migrated to other climes, it may well be that the story is cheering. This may be attributable to the fact that they are subjected to extra tutelage in foundation studies before proceeding to universities. The foundation programme thus is a finishing school that purifies the impurities from Nigerian school and perfectly positions the students to cope with the rigors of schooling in Europe. Report available and personal interaction leaves no one in doubt of the superiority of students from overseas universities. One is therefore tempted to ask? Where did we get it wrong and what can we do to refocus the course of Education in Nigeria. HOW FUNCTIONAL IS OUR EDUCATIONAL SYSTEM The functionality of our educational system is regrettably circumscribed by a national psychology and ethos that places undue premium on certificates. In order words education in this country is assessed by certificate paraded rather than knowledge gained or acquired. This propelled or induced by societal expectation, a greater percentage of Nigeria’s population of 167 million people is desperately in search of a certificate. The fundamental question is must everyone be a degree holder in this country? Has certificate based educational system in a way helped to enhance the functionality of education in this country? Of what use is education that is devoid of individual fulfilment and satisfaction? Is it not obvious that there is a missing link between pursuit of higher education and career progression based on innate intelligence and wisdom? Have we not come to the stage where talent and skill-based education is allowed to flourish over and above certificate based education? Does it not matter to us that we have certificate wielding graduates who lack creativity and innovation because they either bought the certificate or they were not properly tutored for the degree? Should we not be bothered that consequent upon the lack of functionality of our education system, the huge number of gradates and the proliferation of universities have not translated to economic prosperity and the overall wellbeing of our citizenry. What this means in effect is that we must go back to the drawing board. REVISITING 6:3:3:4 IN A DEVELOPING SYSTEM There is every reason to believe that the principle that informed the introduction of the 6:3:3:4sytem is well intended. However, over the years, it can be argued that the system has not served its purpose. My considered opinion is that the 6:3:3:4 system is not properly suited for a developing country like Nigeria. More significantly, the number of young men and women striving to get into higher institutions in Nigeria is such that all cannot be subjected to 16years of education. What this means in effect is that we must source a middle way of allowing at least 70% of our young ones branch out immediately after junior secondary education, whilst 30% can proceed to senior secondary with the prospect of making it to the university. Experience from UK and USA can attest to the fact that not everyone is cut out for university education. To be frank, university education has not proved to be the best form of education. So why must we tailor all our youths towards university education when a good number can branch out and still make a success of their career. I am a firm advocate of vocational education. Vocational education is strongly favoured in developed nations as it breaks the challenges of unemployment and youth restiveness arising from inability to get into higher institutions. Its functionality also cannot be questioned as it provides hands-on opportunities for the youth and helps to harness the innate potentials and talents of our youths. Flowing from this it provides job satisfaction and fulfilment that challenges the youths to excel in their areas of interest as opposed to pursuit of university education in subjects that may not be their preferred choice. In the early 60s and 70s, primary schools exposed pupils to handcraft centres. Doing well in these centres was considered critical for progression in primary education. What is wrong with revisiting such centres both in primary and secondary schools?. Who says that Nigerians cannot man our furniture outfits and export doors, kitchen units and conference furniture to other parts of Africa and Europe. Our sons and daughters of the Nollywood industry have clearly demonstrated that passion, talent and skill is more relevant in human capacity development than root parroting of ill-prepared lecture notes. Is it not possible to replicate Nollywood in the automobile industry, agriculture, fashion designing, furniture making, small scale industries, low capital business entrepreneurship, bakeries, soccer, basket ball, tennis, athletics, boxing and information technology innovations. Nigeria presently parades 129 universities – 40 federal, 38 State and 51 private universities. Added to this is 78 polytechnics. In spite of these higher institutions, only 520,000 are likely to be admitted to universities and polytechnics this 2013 out of 1.7 million people that sat for JAMB examination. What this means is that about 1.2 million cannot get into schools this year. You may therefore ask, what is the fallback option to accommodate them and perhaps seek to know if truly they should be thinking of higher education? With a school age population of 18.2 million, we cannot afford to ignore the obvious challenges confronting our present educational system against the backdrop of lack of functionality we have observed since the inception of the 6334 system. I am of the strong opinion that time has come for us to reconsider that system. THE PLACE OF TEACHERS Functionality of education in Nigeria cannot be discussed in isolation without reference to the status of teachers. And by teachers we mean teachers in primary, secondary and literary institution. Without well groomed teachers, students at any level cannot achieve their full potentials. Have we not observed that school drop outs (in this context those who did not pass through university) have gone further to make unassailable contributions to humanity in the field of information technology and philanthropy world wide? Is it not a known fact that William Shakespeare did not pass through the four walls of the university and still remains the best creative writer known to the literary world? Have Britain not produced even in modern era a Prime Minister with only secondary school education and yet he did well enough in office. These are analogy we should be drawing if only we are comfortable with the quality of teachers in our primary and secondary schools. I have had course to argue in another forum that quality education starts from primary schools to secondary school. What obtains at the university is specialization. Thus any student with poor English foundation at primary and secondary school level cannot cure that defect simply because he was lucky to pass through university. Hence, when people complain about the poor quality of written and spoken English of lawyers nowadays, I am quick to mention that law faculties and law school is not a place to teach “Brighter Grammar” spelling or punctuation. Even at that how well have we treated our teachers? Well enough for them to love their students and dedicate themselves to their profession. How comfortable are they and how motivated are Nigerian teachers. Starting with their mode of appointment, I believe that teaching as a career is a last option resort. Confidence is very low and self esteem is absent. Personality crisis is noticeable and this is worsened by limited international exposure and lack of capacity building. I recall with nostalgia the glorious days in St. Patricks College Asaba when Teachers make it their duty to monitor the progress of their students long after they have left the school. Many follow up by monitoring the progress in life of their students. But that was when teachers were respected in society and celebrated by students and institutions. Today, teachers are victims of constant policy somersaults and consequently are not focused on their jobs. Salary structure for teachers is nothing comparable to those of corporate and financial institutions and their working environment is neither decent nor attractive. In spite of these challenges, available data indicates that we have serious shortfalls of teachers in our higher institutions. In colleges of education, there is a shortfall of 56.9% (14.858); National teacher institute 0.68(474); poly/monotechnics (56.9%) 17,078; universities, 39.15% (19,548) OPEN University, (65.2%) 9,780. What is evident is that we must treasure what we have at the moment whilst we strive to attract the huge number needed to fill the huge gap that confronts us. Functionality of our educational system depends on our ability to make up the shortfall. HIGHER EDUCATION SYSTEM For a predominantly youthful population, considerable large proportion of the nations budget is dedicated to education. In 2011 over 304 billion Naira was budgeted for education and 54 billion Naira for Universal basic education. In 2012, the budget increased to 400 billion naira and universal basic education increased to 68 billion Naira. In 2013, it rose again to 427 billion while UBE increased to 72 billion. For a country whose school age population is 18.2 million, admissions to Nigerian Universities have not been quite impressive. In 2004/05, 841,878 applied, 122,492 were admitted making 14.5% admission. In 2005/2006, 916,371 applied, 76,984 were admitted making it 8.4% admission. In 2006/2007, it was 116 admissions, 2007/2008, 11.86, 2008/2009, 18.9%, 2011/2012 it was mere 20%. The implication of the above is that increasingly more people apply to our universities and consistently over 80% of applicants fail to be admitted. This is notwithstanding the budget for education annually. The natural deduction is that the future of our students does not lie in universities but in the pursuit of vocational career. Even at that our conversation cannot fail to address the poor physical infrastructure of classrooms and accommodations, the quality of faculty of teachers/lecturers, international status and ranking of Nigerian universities, the process of admission and screening of students, the unpredictable period of study (including the time allotted for strike action by ASSUU) the staff-student ratio, inability to meet accreditation requirements, cost of education generally and the proliferation of private institutions. DO WE NEED TO CHART A NEW COURSE? Many have argued that there is nothing wrong with the 6334 system from the point of view of conceptualization. For such protagonists the problem is poor implementation since no skill was taught and acquired. Indeed the whole idea of a junior secondary school was to empower students with prevocational skills but what emerged was a system fused with the secondary school in a way that parents and students see 3.3 as inextricably intertwined. That means that we need not think of charting a new course altogether but revisit our navigation compass once more. Yes the compass is distorted and that is why we have gotten it all wrong. The time has come for us to draw a clear distinction between JSS and SSS. To achieve this objective Ministry of Education must not allow all schools to run both JSS and SSS. From the onset, schools must be accredited to pursue either JSS or SSS. If you pass JSS in school A and you want to proceed to Senior Secondary School based on your performance then you have to apply to school B. This dichotomy will help to encourage those with creative abilities and talent to branch off after JSS whilst those with scholarly disposition and with desire to proceed to university can apply to go to schools that offer SS. The JSS 3 class must be seen as a terminal class for those who cannot progress to SSS classes. It is assumed that by the time a student is through with JSS 3, he must be both intellectually and vocationally prepared to pursue a career in life depending on his area of interest, aptitude and capability. Functionality of Nigeria’s education system depends so much on our preparedness to rework our distorted compass. Our journey towards national development, economic prosperity and respect among our peers in the comity of nations rests squarely on our willingness and determination to rework our 6334 system. The challenges of the future is one in which our education system will be at the vanguard of recalibrating our scientific and technological advancement. Our schools, students and researchers are to build the first made in Nigeria vehicle, take charge of natural resources and refineries, propel our movement towards space orbit and energise us to control telecommunications and technological activities in our country. They must take charge of our power sector, drive air, road, railway and maritime transportation, revitalise our ailing industries and revamp aspects of our economy that lies prostrate at the moment. The future of this country lies in human capital and to this end a strong workforce is critical to sustain our tempo of regeneration. This can only be possible if our health care is well positioned to address the physical and mental wellbeing of our people. This is why our education system must become functional for it is in its functionality that we can achieve transformation and national rebirth. I agree entirely with Simon Abah, a columnist of the Guardian who he said on Friday August 30th 2013. “The government must de-emphasise the rush for certificates and partner with stakeholders to improve our system. People, in industries like shoe manufacturing, plumbing, electrical work, carpentry, welding etc need to be recognised and treated as professionals. This will improve and boost self-esteem, a vital asset for innovation” I look forward to that day when the emphasise will be on talent and innovative capacity rather than certificate or romance with higher educational institutions. That will set the tone for enthronement of the Nigerian dream. That I am sure will unleash the new dawn for our nation that can make us harness our full potentials as a people and make us the envy of the world Thank you and God bless.
Posted on: Mon, 09 Sep 2013 09:22:31 +0000