A sudden earthquake is about to hit the whole of Nigeria this month; not the sort of physical tremor which devastates buildings, breaks up bridges and brings down power lines – while destroying lives. Ours will be a social upheaval never experienced in this country for as long as the oldest of us can remember. It will occur in the education sector; and its repercussions will last longer than ten earth tremors and be more devastating. In fact, the decline in manufacturing, banking and services, as well as non-oil exports will appear like child’s play compared to this one single crisis – which is only a few weeks away from making its appearance on the national scene.

For some inexplicable reasons, neither the Federal Government, nor the Ministries of Education (Federal and States) nor even the parents of school age children paid attention to the tsunami unfolding in education. Yet the recession, just belatedly admitted, will have its most devastating impact on the kids and their education.

Most Nigerians, who find time to be informed about such matters, are aware that for more than ten years, over ten million school age Nigerian kids are known to be out of school. That figure represents about twenty per cent of our kids – and they constitute the vast army of losers of tomorrow. As a matter of fact, they have already lost today and might never recover lost ground. When we bother to think about it at all, we shrug our shoulders and probably expect government to do something about it. What governments should do is usually left undefined and there is no pressure on governments to actually do anything.

For millions of those who have lived in the comfort zone of knowing that their kids were in school and would not suffer the deprivations associated with lack of education or inferior education, made available by governments, September this year might mark the end of their peace of mind. The recession starting in 2016 and the economic downturn that will last until, at least, the end of 2017 will turn out to be a watershed for the entire country. Consider the growing evidence in that regard. School fees in private, and even some public schools, have gone up with the rise in exchange rate.

Every Level 100 student of economics knows that fees are one of the synonyms for price. Through his understanding of the basic principles of Supply and Demand he would also recollect that when prices go up demand goes down because price is an element of crowd control. In response to devaluation and the rising costs of providing education, schools were forced to increaser fees to unprecedented levels. That by itself would have resulted in lower school enrollment – all things being equal as the economists say. Unfortunately, all is far from equal. Millions of parents with kids in school are battling with unpaid salaries, half salaries, companies whose accounts have been blocked by the EFCC, partial shut down of plants, retrenchments, higher fuel, food and transport charges etc. Even if school fees have remained unchanged many are already poised to remove their kids from the pricey schools to less expensive private schools and those in turn are preparing to enroll the kids in public schools. Meanwhile, the public schools have not yet been prepared for the crowds they will soon find at their gates.

Two owners of popular private schools in Lagos Island were the first to draw attention to the problem. Hitherto, those schools running pre-nursery to primary classes would be turning away new applicants by end of August each year. They were in for a shock this year. As you read this none of them has a full class for this year. More shocking to them was the unusual rate of withdrawal of kids in the primary school by parents who can no longer afford to pay the fees – even if unchanged. A brief survey of some schools in Ogun and Oyo States, as well as Abuja revealed the same pattern of withdrawals from private schools. The trauma involved for the parents compelled by economic necessity of down-grading their conspicuous consumption of expensive private education for their kids is bad enough.

For many of the kids, the problem of adjustment to new schools, new classmates, new rules and regulations will be even more destabilizing – particularly for those moving from private to public schools. Many parents are already feeling the heat of resistance. Kids who have spent years with the superiority complex induced by private education now dread the prospect of sharing the same classroom with those who had attended the public schools all along. Three kids in Lagos Island are threatening to run away rather than attend public school despite the fact that their fathers had been retrenched by their employers and their street trader mothers had been arrested at least twice by Governor Ambode’s KAI troopers.

Just in case the readers think fees constitute the only mountain to climb for parents and kids, let us remind ourselves that prices of books, laboratory sets, math sets, uniforms, shoes, and transport climbed when the currency was officially devalued during their long vacation. Prices of all those indispensable accessories to education have gone up by 70 to 150% since then. And, the bus ride which drilled a N100 hole in the parents’ pockets in July will drill a bigger one of N200 in September – with no prospect of a salary increase in sight. Governments and even banks are talking (or is it threatening?) about slashing salaries. As if that is not bad news enough, food prices have escalated, lunch money will need to go up by at least 100%; and the pump price of petrol might soon go up again.

This is not the best of times to be the parents of school age children in Nigeria. Those who survive it will remember this year for as long as they live. If they don’t die young under the burden they will grow old to tell the story of the year education took a decisive turn in Nigeria on account of the first recession in thirty-three (33) years. The fates of millions of Nigerian kids will be determined by how governments, at all levels manage this problem.

http://www.vanguardngr.com/2016/09/recession-hits-education-sector/

this is opportunity to give attention to public schools.

Recession, recession, recession

Buhari came to kill, to steal and to destroy

Kenny987 y u still awake?