The trope of failure in the education sector has driven the country to look in the direction of theatrics. Minister of Education, Adamu Adamu, has called on President Muhammadu Buhari to declare emergency in the education sector in April: “I appeal to the Federal Government under the leadership of President Muhammadu Buhari to declare a state of emergency in the education sector for the country to be able to change the fortunes of the system. Indeed, even among Sub-Saharan African countries, we are trailing far behind smaller and less endowed nations in terms of our investment in education. There is need for a major investment in education in the national interest,” he said.
Of course, the state of education is bad enough to call for any form of intervention. What is curious about Mr. Adamu’s announcement is why declaration of emergency (in a sector whose failure has made Nigeria the leading country with the largest number of students in search of education in other countries) has taken so long to happen, if such ritual is the panacea that the Federal Government believes the sector needs.
In terms of access, over 10 million children of school age are not in school. This makes the country one with the largest number of out-of-school children in the world. In addition, youth literacy rate is about 73 percent and adult literacy is 60 percent while the global average is 90.6 and 85.3 percent, respectively. University admission is available for 500,000 out of 1.5 million applicants. Success rate in secondary school leaving examinations, (WAEC and NECO) has hovered around 50 percent in the past 10 years.
Those in public schools and colleges study under poor learning conditions. Teachers work under tough conditions just as primary and secondary school students in public schools learn under very stressful conditions. Most schools are in poor physical state and mostly without teaching and learning facilities. Electricity is alien to most primary and secondary schools and erratic in universities and research institutes. Libraries in most schools have no books. Most schools are without the technology that supports teaching in other countries.
Many of the teachers in public schools are not qualified and many of them are unable to pass the examinations they give to their own students. In the last 10 years, allocations to education have been below 10% of the budget. The Minister of Education has not minced words about this: “Indeed, even among Sub-Saharan African countries, we are trailing far behind smaller and less endowed nations in terms of our investment in education. There is need for a major investment in education in the national interest.”
Emergency declaration in the education sector is bound to generate rhetorical flourish and political optics. In other climes, such declaration would not be the most rational approach to solve a problem that has become perennial. What citizens are likely to find most useful is proper research on the scope and depth of the problem and sincere commitment to finding lasting solutions. Education is too important for its challenges to be made to wait for the ritual of emergency proclamation. It is the key to national development and citizen empowerment needed to participate in the competitive environment of globalisation which is invariably driven by knowledge and innovation.
The minister is right on inadequate funding of education. Also worrisome is the Federal Government’s penchant to decide for state governments how to spend money they accessed through the Universal Basic Education fund. The inability of some states to meet their counterpart funding is one chief reason why they still have their billions trapped in the fund. We should also take cognisance of the adverse effects of over-centralisation of a sector that thrives in an atmosphere of freedom and creativity.
It is unusual to declare emergency in a sector of soft power like education. We urge the governments to apply the political will that has been driving expansion of free school meals to finding solutions to myriad problems facing the education sector. The April declaration should accompany readiness on the part of governments to take all steps: adequate funding, political will, sincerity of purpose, proper apprehension of the problem, and the resolve to make future declaration of emergency in the education sector unnecessary.
