Where do I start from…hmmm…yeah.
Over the years, we have complained about the dwindling standard of education in Nigeria. An average person will list corruption, bad policies, shortage of funds and other bottlenecks as debacles to education growth in Nigeria. Fine, it’s good. It shows an average mind is functioning. My post isn’t to offer advice, if anyone needs advice, he/she can visit any faculty of education in any university close by. They have the solutions to education problems in Nigeria.

THE BLAME GAME
When the results of 2014 SSCE (WAEC) were released, one of my lecturers called me and asked for my take on the figures. I was actually surprised because that was the last question I thought he would ever ask. I replied, “Well, these students ain’t loyal”. He smiled and requested that I close his door. So I left. He knew I was being stupid for that answer for a reason because again and again, we have discussed the problems of education in Nigeria at several conferences.
Articles everywhere blamed the government, the school types (private/government) while some blamed the teachers. Everyone had and still has a view. So, who is to be blamed? At least someone has to be responsible, right?
THE GOVERNMENT: The education sector was allocated N426.5 billion for 2013 meaning those funds were to be used to run the sector for 2014 but there was still a record of high failures and drop down in academic achievement. I was told that was the highest allocation but where did we miss it?
The government ALWAYS puts round pegs in square holes: Look at the teachers employed by the government. A lot of them are people who passed out with good grades. I understand some have M.Sc. But as an educationist, this is a big problem. Many of these teachers are not trained to teach. In teaching, you need M.Ed, B.Ed, B.A Ed, NCE to teach and not B.Sc, M.Sc. Teaching has principles. It’s not always about the ‘brilliance’ of the teacher because learning is learner-centered. Here, the government knows what to do. Is NTI still functioning?
Channelling of funds: Has the government met the goals set? How many schools have been renovated? How many have been built? How well does the government train its teachers? How financially responsible are the administrators in charge of these funds? I trained in a school where the government gave about 500 textbooks to the students. The principal of the school didn’t distribute the books. Those books later ended up in the market. Has anyone been to a bookshop and bought a PTDF ‘Not for Sale’ book? Yes, I have.
THE SCHOOL: Largely, we have two types of schools. The privately owned and the government owned. Let’s take a look at some these private schools. No doubt, private schools have lifted the sector in leaps and bounds. How many qualified teachers work in these schools? How well paid are the teachers? What’s the workload of a teacher in a private school? I know a school where the proprietor pays 25k for a teacher taking 3 subjects for the whole senior secondary section (SS1-SS3). Now tell me, how do you expect optimum productivity from the teacher? The problem is, most of these schools are owned by business men/women who know next to nothing about running a school. They are only after making money and they do make it because many don’t pay their teachers promptly.
A government school is usually a jamboree camp. Teachers leave duty posts, don’t report, laze around and many give notes to students to copy. Why? Lack of motivation and conscience.
At this juncture, look at my aforementioned points, they all seem known and nothing seems new. Why? They are not really the problems of education. All those ‘problems’ have solutions already. We are just not applying them.
Now, the real problem of education in Nigeria is the society itself. Yes. We are the problem of education. Wrong social values is the bane of education in Nigeria. The society is responsible because we have valued the wrong things. By valuing the wrong things, we killed the essence of education. Let me start from ‘perception’. When I finished secondary school, I decided to attend a college of education. When I got to the admissions office, the officer in charge looked at my results and called the JAMB office to confirm the authenticity of my poly-JAMB result (as it was called then). After making the call, he checked the SSCE broadsheet too. Later he asked me to sit and asked “Why would anyone with these results want to come for NCE? Did you fail University JAMB? Etc. I told him I never attempted University JAMB because I want to teach. At the end of the day, he offered me 5 courses I could choose from. Now, why has the society programmed itself towards a trend that SSCE failures should be the ones to attend teacher training institutes? Do we realise these ‘failures’ will teach our kids in primary and secondary schools…even up to university level? Take a look at faculties of education nationwide, they have the lowest GPA cut off. That’s why faculties of education have turned to dumping grounds for dropouts of other faculties. This is so sad. We are not thinking of its ripple effect.
A NATION CAN NOT RISE ABOVE THE QUALITY OF ITS TEACHERS- PROF. BABS FAFUNWA (Late)
Secondly, I read a post here that a lady who was the most beautiful in a school got a car while the most brilliant debater got a laptop. Did the organisers of those awards think of its psychological impact on students nationwide? When a secondary school female student sees that headline, what will come to her thoughts? There are so many things we are doing that’s dampening the motivation of students. Unless we check ourselves…
Look at the national awards. What calibre of people get these awards? There was a politician who returned from prison on the basis of financial fraud only to be celebrated on his return. We live in a society where dignity of labour is now at zero. Education teaches the joy of dignity of labour but the society is preaching the end rather than the means. So, how would education achieve what it set out to achieve?
Lastly, to students who have not been loyal since the days of Cain & Abel. Students have no excuse these days. There is internet access. What do they do with their phones? They do FaceBook, Naijaloaded, LIB, WhatsApp, NotJustOk and they watch Bleep videos. How is the teacher and the government responsible for these? The students have been exposed to what we the society exposed them to. Look at music videos, male artistes flaunting money, ladies shaking booties, Telemundo…I mean we make a joke of ourselves and until we collectively trace our steps, education will continue falling. Thanks for your time.

This is unfortunately true

@Nifemiolu,you have said it all. It's so easy to lay the entire blame on the government despite the fact that there are so many factors responsible. The Nigerian education system can change. All it needs is a conscious and committed effort to make the changes by ALL parties concerned.