By Prof Mike Ozekhome SAN
INTRODUCTION
Walt Disney once opined: “I would rather entertain and hope that people learned something than educate people and hope they were entertained”. In our last outing in this series, we discussed kidnapping, armed banditry and herdsmen menace; UNICEF corroborations and other forms of crises in the educational sector. Today, we shall x-ray specific reasons for decline in education with special emphasis on: falling standards; crisis of manpower; abandoned projects and exodus of teachers. We shall also take a look at more causes of crises in education; irrelevant knowledge and learning; debasement of virtues and good reasoning- moral decadence; poor family upbringing; etc. We will then conclude by proffering some recommendations and possible solutions to our crisis-ridden education system. Enjoy.
SPECIFIC REASONS FOR DECLINE IN EDUCATION
Coming to University education, Omebe & Omebe (The crisis of Education in Nigeria, the International Journal of Humanities, Social Science and Education, Vol.2, Issued 12, December 2015. www.arcjournals.org; Accessed on 1st October 2022) identify the following as what they called the “specifics on its Decline”, viz:
FALLING STANDARDS
• the dismissal of 3 graduates of the Enugu State University of Science & Technology from the NYSC scheme for falling below the standard expected of graduates;
CRISIS OF MANPOWER
• crisis of manpower in Nigeria universities, here instead of the required 80% of academics holding Ph.D degrees, only 43% possessed that qualification; furthermore, instead of the minimum requirement of 75% of the academics being between Senior lecturers and Professors, only 44% fall within that bracket; worse still, almost all the universities have excess of non-teaching staff, with many instances where they exceed teaching staff two, three or four times, while in others, the number of senior administrative staff is more than twice the total teaching staff.
ABANDONED PROJECTS
• That is not all, the two scholars report that “there is an average of 4 abandoned projects per university in Nigeria with the attendant negative consequences for classrooms, laboratories, student’s hostels and staff accommodation”. They add that “poor infrastructure adversely affects teaching, research, learning and students’ health and safety”.
EXODUS OF TEACHERS
• Even though Nigerian universities are grossly starved of Ph.D holders, there are confirmed reports that people with such degrees seek graduate level positions while others, incredulously, reportedly compete to be truck drivers.
MORE CAUSES OF CRISES IN EDUCATION
We have touched on the ‘external’ causes of the crises in education in Nigeria. By that we mean the choices made by the power elite who control access to the material and other external resources which inhibit education from attaining its optimum level in Nigeria.
But, there are other factors which are play – some of them societal, psychological, normative and cultural – which, together have combined to erode the quality of education to its present abysmal level. These factors were highlighted by Omebe and Omebe (Ibid) as follows:
IRRELEVANT KNOWLEDGE AND LEARNING
• Irrelevant knowledge and learning. According to them, (Ibid) “when educators do not understand the nature of learning and knowledge, both the teacher and the student are trapped in a futile struggle. No matter how much money the tax payers spend and how many quick-fixes are tried, the chronic failure will continue until education in the country is more responsive to the needs and aspirations of the people as well as relating education of the child to the demands of the labour market”;
DEBASEMENT OF VIRTUES AND GOOD REASONING
• “Debase(ment) of virtue and good reasoning. Virtue was one almost as highly exalted as truth in Western educational institutions. Reasoning was rigorously deployed to understand and define moral virtue. By contrast, modern academia propagates nations of moral relativism and situational ethics”;
MORAL DECADENCE
• “Moral Decadence. Our educational institutions are more or less morally bankrupt. Both students and teacher disobey rules with impunity and have scant regard for morality. This manifest in disrespect, needless contention and antagonism, exam malpractices, inappropriate relationships, stealing, fighting, dereliction of duties etc. Hence, the rising incidence of social vices in educational institution”;
POOR FAMILY UPBRINGING
• “Family up-bringing. This is very instrumental in defining a person’s character. Positive or negative behaviors are often rooted in a person’s family history. Undisciplined children are often the product of bad parentage”;
PEER PRESSURE
• “Peer Pressure. This can affect the choices of even ordinarily good people. Habits like smoking, alcoholism, cultism, illicit sex, exam malpractices and indecent dressing have been blamed on peer group pressure” ;
PROLIFERATION OF QUACKS
• “Involvement of Quacks. Teaching has become something of an all-comers affairs and a transit point between jobs for the unemployed. This has inevitably compromised standards”;
LACK OF MOTIVATION
• “Absence of motivation. This factor explains many unethical choices by especially educators: poor and irregular payround irregular training and retraining programmes being major triggers. Poor motivation manifest in low morale, indifference and indecency”;
PERVASIVE CORRUPTION
• “Corruption. The prevailing culture of corruption in Nigeria has rendered it virtually impossible to earn an honest living in the country. Corruption simply thrives in the country and it is often blamed for social vices in educational institutions. It is the root cause of exam malpractices, certificate and admission racketeering, misappropriation and embezzlement of official funds in virtually all tertiary educational institutions”;
POVERTY
• “Poverty. The challenging economic circumstances have plunged many Nigerians into poverty, forcing to resort to various social vices such as bribery, stealing, pilfering, cheating, prostitution to make ends-meet”;
IGNORANCE
• “Ignorance. Some lecturers and students who engage in anti-social behavior seem oblivious of the gravity of those choices, leading some of them to brag about (or flaunt) it as if a badge of honour”;
LACK OF ROLE MODELS
• “Poor Example or Role Models. No child is born bad. He or she is shaped or moulded by socialization by parents, guardians, leaders and the larger society for better or for worse”;
RECOMMENDATIONS AND POSSIBLE SOLUTIONS TO OUR CRISIS-RIDDEN EDUCATION SYSTEM
I do not believe in mere damage assessment alone. Nor do I believe in drinking from the Book of Lamentations which is a collection of poetic laments and cries over the destruction of Jerusalem in 586 BCE. We must go beyond this gloomy picture I have painted above; this frightening spectre of disillusionment, to proffer workable solutions to our crisis-ridden education system.
In discussing the story of Nigeria’s collapsed educational system, there has been no shortage of precepts. Indeed, so much literature has been written and said; oceans of ink I spilled, to address the challenges and problems of our ailing education sector (with correspondingly little by way of concrete action), that it has practically been a case of too many Chiefs and not enough Indians. Everyone appears to know what needs to be done; but who is willing to bell the cat? That is the question. No one. As with the methodology adopted to x-ray the challenges, we shall discuss the possible panaceas under two different perspectives: firstly, the big picture in terms of the regulatory framework as dictated by political leverage wielded by the government, the power elite; viz-a-viz the people; and, secondly through the somewhat narrower (but perhaps more important) prism of the academic environment of the educational institutions themselves, in terms of the role of government, attitudes and choices of parents, students, educators and administrators, in their relationship, both as individuals and interse.
GOVERNMENT AND THE REGULATORY FRAMEWORK SOLUTIONS BY EXPERTS
Starting with the former, Kenneth Maduagwu (Ibid) (quoting the Inter-Agency Network for Education in Emergencies), argues (and I agree), as follows: “quality education protects cognitive development and psychological well-being, giving children hope in times of crisis. To provide educational services to millions of deprived children in Nigeria means to sustainably address structural, cultural, security and humanitarian factors that limit children’s access to education. The Nigerian government must rethink the provision of education services, especially in conflict-impacted locations. There is need to invest in the capacity development of the existing teaching workforce in information and communication technology (ICT) skills. This can ensure that children in displacement camps, for instance, can remotely be taught in a controlled environment especially where school infrastructure has been destroyed.
Remote learning can also be mainstreamed on a broader scale to care for school children in southeast Nigeria who cannot go to school on designated IPOB sit-at-home days. The practicability of remote learning will ensure that children living in areas where government agencies and development actors cannot access can receive quality education irrespective of the teaching staff strength in those locations. The semi-digitalization of teaching in public schools does not excuse the urgency of tackling Nigeria’s woes, However, it is a temporary solution to ensure that accessible conflict-affected children in Nigeria are not deprived of education while security agencies continue to push for stability. Therefore, security actors must focus on restoring peace and stability in areas affected by conflict. In addition, the government must deploy non-conflict intervention measures to de-escalate emerging and existing violent hotspots”.
“More livelihood, nutrition, and children protection programmes are needed to salvage many Nigerian children’s current challenges. The future of children in crisis-impacted zones may appear uncertain, but adequate intervention efforts will ensure positive outcomes. Beyond education, violent conflict affects all aspects of childrens lives. Therefore, addressing the humanitarian impact of violent conflict issues in Nigeria will help prevent its implication on education and other socio-economic activities. The effects of violent conflicts on education in Nigeria require a tailored solution. It also requires that sustainability be achieved by upscaling interventions that significantly impact the lives of communities and children”.
Contributing to this, Dakuku Peterside (ibid), poignantly identifies the issues in the following manner, which I concur with: “now is the time to pay attention and call for ‘a state of emergency’ in our education sector. We must bring all ideas, talents, skills and resources to the table to resolve some of the crises threatening to mar the future of the next generation of Nigerians. It is not just a policy and monetary issue. We need to focus on teacher education to improve the quality of teachers and engage in their periodic testing and retraining. The promotion of teachers should be tied to the quality of the teaching, personal development and the impact of teaching on students. We need to provide them with the teaching resources and incentives they need to do a good job. Individual states should set independent standards for teachers’ accreditation in their jurisdiction. We must provide all forms of financial and psychological incentives to teachers. We must ringfence their benefits and emoluments in both federal and state budget and never allow a situation where governments owe them salaries. The reward of teachers must be here on earth and not in heaven”. We should pay their wages when due and pay them a living wage. We must review the pay of teachers on the basis of current economic realities and attract the best to the teaching profession”. (To be continued).
THOUGHT FOR THE WEEK
“Education is an admirable thing, but it is well to remember from time to time that nothing that is worth knowing can be taught”. (Oscar Wilde).
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