Though the Goodluck Jonathan administration started on a good note by promising to uplift the education sector to an enviable height in the shortest possible time, two years down the lane, no significant improvement has been recorded in the sector, writes TUNBOSUN OGUNDARE.
(http://nationalmirroronline.net/new/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/Prof.-Ojerinde-JAMB%E2%80%99s-Registrar.jpg) (http://nationalmirroronline.net/new/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/Prof.-Ojerinde-JAMB%E2%80%99s-Registrar.jpg) Prof. Ojerinde, JAMB's Registrar
It is a known fact that the Goodluck Jonathan administration inherited many problems in the education sector. The inadequacy of school-based data on educational development system has been the major one, which the Minister of Education, Prof. Ruqayyatu Rufai, also confirmed immediately she settled down in office after her reappointment. She, however, blamed inadequate funding, weak capacity, poor infrastructure and incentives, as well as poor management of the Annual School Census (ASC) for the challenge and pledged to make reasonable amend.
Today, however, it is difficult to know, the exact figure of school enrolment both at the basic and tertiary levels, as Nigeria still relies on information provided by international organisations like UNESCO Institute for Statistics (UIS), among others, which could not also be said to be current.
This situation has made it difficult to ascertain whether or not there has been increase in school enrolment in the last two years.
According to UIS, 60.8 per cent of adults; 71.8 per cent of youths (between 15 and 24 years) are reported to be literates while 61 per cent of male children and 55 per cent of females are quoted to be currently enrolled in primary schools across the federation. At the tertiary level, out of about 1.7 million candidates, who sat for this year's Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME), less than 30 per cent could be accommodated. This is despite the fact that more schools are springing up by the day.
There are other numerous issues relevant for consideration under the administration in review.
(http://nationalmirroronline.net/new/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/A-female-hostel-Kogi-State-University-Ayingba-by-the-NEEDS-Assessment-Report-on-Universities-last-year.jpg) (http://nationalmirroronline.net/new/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/A-female-hostel-Kogi-State-University-Ayingba-by-the-NEEDS-Assessment-Report-on-Universities-last-year.jpg) A female hostel, Kogi State University, Ayingba by the NEEDS Assessment Report on Universities last year
Biometric data capturing system and computer- based test in UTME
The Joint Admission and Matriculation Board (JAMB), the body saddled with the responsibility of conducting entrance examination into Nigeria's higher institutions, in 2011, introduced the biometric data capturing system and this year, the computer-based test in the conduct of UTME. These, according to the body, are to stem malpractices that had almost discredited the examination body. But sadly, exam malpractices are still unprecedented in the board's examinations. The one conducted recently and the result released was a clear case in point.
Establishment of new universities
President Goodluck Jonathan felt the need to give more room to the increasing number of candidates seeking university admission even though without giving the existing ones adequate attention by adding nine new universities across the geopolitical zones of the country. With that development, Nigeria has a total of 127 universities-public and private- scattered across the country. There are also additional polytechnics and colleges of education within the last two years, yet many candidates are still being denied access to higher education. And this situation has resulted in many Nigerians travelling abroad to study, spending billion dollars to acquire degrees yearly.
Strikes
Until lately, the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) was known for declaring industrial actions to press home their demands from the government. This situation was inherited by the Jonathan administration and extended to the first one and a half years whereby lecturers would stay off their duty posts for months. But now, academic calendar in ivory towers is relatively stable following the Federal Government's readiness to honour the 2009 agreement entered into with the union. Although, it is not only ASUU that has embarked on strike; the Non-Academic Staff Union of Universities (NASU), Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities (SSANU) and the National Association of Academic Technologists (NAAT) have also called their members out of school on more than one occasion, which truncated the institutions' academic calendar in no small measure. It is ditto with workers in other categories of tertiary institutions.
Needs Assessment Committee's report on public universities
The Needs Assessment Committee constituted by the Federal Government to review the state of the university education for possible suggestion on how to move the system forward has been one of the good approaches of this administration to the education sector. The report did not only reveal the shocking state of the nation's public universities, it also came up with practicable recommendations to make the system internationally competitive. When one considers the findings, it is little wonder that no Nigerian university-public or private-is listed among the first top 100 in the university world ranking.
The university's problems, according to the report, range from inadequate funding, decaying infrastructure, policy inconsistency, dearth of qualified lecturers, over- staffing of unqualified workers, misplaced priority, overcrowded lecture rooms, financial and other forms of corrupt practices, to politicking. Others include poor hostel accommodation, ineffective power supply, insecurity, dearth of safe water supply and sanitary facilities, poor learning environment, poor remuneration and welfare package, lacklustre students' attitude and lack of parental care and so on.
But of importance is that the 10-man committee headed by the then Executive Secretary of the Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund), Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, suggested a way out of the crisis. These include the upward review of annual budgetary allocation from proprietors to each of the universities with strict supervision of its spending to forestall misappropriation and wastage and that vice-chancellors should be transparent, accountable and result-oriented in their dealings, among others.
Educating 9.5 million almajiris
Resolute in achieving Education for All (EFA) by 2015, the Federal Government, last year April, launched the Almajiri model school in Sokoto State, which has been replicated in other 18 northern states and some states down south with the aim of broadening the horizon of over 9.5 million almajiris on spiritual and moral values.
President Jonathan, who inaugurated the first Almajiri Model Boarding School in Gagi, Sokoto State, said his administration believed that the time had come for Nigeria to build on the moral foundation of the traditional school system by providing the almajiri with conventional knowledge and skills that would enable them to fully realise their productive potential. Government had so far constructed scores of such model schools with the provision for states with large concentration of almajiris running both the boarding and day schools.
Mass failure and exam malpractice in SSCE and UTME
Public attention is regularly drawn to the decay in the education sector whenever there is mass failure of students in public examinations. The major ones are for the West Africa Senior School Certificate Examinations (WASSCE) conducted by West African Examination Council (WAEC) and National Examination Council (NECO), as well as the Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) conducted by the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB).
For instance, in the last May/June WAEC exams, only 38.81 per cent, representing 649,156 out of 1,695,878 candidates, who sat for the exam, obtained credits in five subjects and above, including English Language and Mathematics. Of the 1,695,878 candidates, 6.70 per cent (112,000) were withheld for various reports of alleged involvement in examination malpractices.
Similarly, only 37.97 per cent of the candidates across the country, who sat for the November/December exam of the organisation, obtained credit and above in five subjects, including English Language and Mathematics, a minimum academic qualification for admission into tertiary academic institutions in the country. By this outing, the best in the recent years, it means 62. 10 per cent of the candidates failed the exam.
The results were not any better in the UTME. Out of a total 1,503,931 candidates who sat for the exam this year, only 10 scored 300 and above out of the total 400 marks obtainable; while over one million candidates scored below 180, which is 40 per cent of the total mark. To say the least, large scale malpractice by candidates was recorded during the exam.
Mubi students' massacre and ALUU 4
The killings of over 26 students of the Federal Polytechnic, Mubi, Adamawa State on October 2, 2012 and another four undergraduates of the University of Port Harcourt in Aluu, Ikwerre Local Government area of Rivers State three days after, would forever remain in the minds of many.
The two incidents were described as callous and widely condemned by local and international communities, considering the manner in which these students were murdered. In the case of Mubi, reports had it that some men in military uniform stormed students' hostel outside the campus shortly before midnight and gathered the students outside their rooms, slaughtering some with knives and gunning others down, leaving their bodies in the pool of their own blood. Most victims were said to have even been called out by names by the attackers before they were killed.
The incident at Aluu was similar. There, the four students, namely: Ugonna Kelechi Obusor, Mike Lloyd Toku, Chiadika Lordson, and Tekena Elkanah, for allegedly stolen mere laptops and cell phone, were beaten and later set ablaze by members of the community.
Reports further had it that some men of the police force, who are being paid with public funds to protect lives and property, participated in the killing. A helpless eye witness, who is also a sister to one of the victims, Tekena, Miss Ibisobia Elkanah, was quoted to have said some policemen, who visited the scene when the students were being beaten encouraged the mob to 'burn them alive.'
The killings of youth corps members, following the post-election violent in some northern parts of the country during the last general election, is another stain in Jonathan administration.
These are some of the striking features
National Mirror