[center]SALVAGE THE FALLEN STANDARD OF EDUCATION IN NIGERIA THROUGH
THE SOLID FOUNDATION TO MATHEMATICS:
THE PATHWAY TO BREAKTHROUGH IN ACADEMIC PURSUIT.
BY ELDER T.M.D. OFETON (SPECIAL MATHEMATICS TEACHER)
PART 1[/center]

PRE-AMBLE: That the standard of education has significantly dropped in Nigeria has become an open secret for some decades now. The government, educationalists, employers of labour and well-meaning Nigerians have cried out loudly on this vicious circle that has taken a firm grip on our educational sector.

I make bold to say that this drastic fall in the standard of education in Nigeria, is in direct proportion to the drastic fall in the teaching of the subject of Mathematics at the primary school level and by extension in the secondary school level. Mathematics is a peculiar core subject and I am yet to see a pupil who is good in Mathematics at the primary school level and failing to perform well at the remaining two tiers of education – secondary and university levels. Rather, the reverse has always been the case and that is, that a pupil who ignores Mathematics at the primary school level has hardly excelled at the secondary and university levels. Thus, we find that the subject of Mathematics holds the divine key to unlocking the door to the academic potentials of the human being (Pupil). And the foundation to this most important subject is laid at the primary school level and NOT at the secondary school level.

There are various factors that have contributed to this fallen standard of education in Nigeria. The major factors in this regard can be classified as follows:

1. There are institutions established by the government that are saddled with the responsibility of training teachers to teach at the primary schools, but unfortunately the syllabus on primary school Mathematics as contained in the educational curriculum handed over to these institutions which serve as the content of what these would-be teachers should be trained on, without mincing words, is grossly faulty and needs urgent review. As a result, by the time these would-be teachers complete their courses and come out to teach, they cannot teach Mathematics thoroughly both at the primary schools and at the secondary schools for lack of depth on the subject and so, this vicious vacuum becomes existent in the system since they cannot teach what has not been taught to them. About 80% of teachers in both primary and secondary schools, fall into this pathetic situation. As a result, many of them resort to teaching the textbook methods some of which they themselves do not quite understand.

2. Authors of some of our very popular textbooks widely adopted for use by many primary schools across Nigeria have not helped matters either. They encourage pupils to engage in winding and uninspiring methods in the name of modernity in teaching techniques thus making pupils hate Mathematics. Also, definitions of Mathematical terms are becoming extinct; pupils no longer know what Direct Proportion and Inverse Proportions mean as at the time of passing out from primary schools to mention but a few.

3. Mathematics is not like social studies neither is it like Health Science. Most teachers do not know what topic should come before the other and as a result, they follow the Modules or chapters of the contents of the textbook as the scheme of work which in most cases is misplaced. The authors of most of these textbooks have not lived up to expectation in this regard. They should prepare the Modules or Chapters of the contents of the textbooks, as much as possible, in the sequence of classroom presentation. To my mind, it is not correct to introduce a pupil to Addition and Subtraction of vulgar fractions with different denominators without first teaching the child on how to find the L.C.M of a set of given numbers. Neither is it correct to introduce the child into studying fractions, percentages, decimals, ratio, L.C.M, H.C.F. etc, if the teacher is to follow the Modules or Chapters of the contents of the textbook, when the child has not been taught the basic four operations of Addition, Subtraction, Multiplication and Division of whole numbers. This is a wrong sequence in the presentation of topics in the classroom. No newly born child has ever started with solid food.



4. EXAMINATION BOARDS, BE CAUTIONED:
You cannot give a child whose total body weight is 30kg, a load of mass weight of 80kg to carry. What has the calculation of the interior angles of regular polygons like Pentagon, Hexagon, Heptagon, Octagon, besides the Triangle and the Rectangle which are the smallest polygons, got to do with a primary school pupil? Is this part of their syllabus? Why not limiting your questions to topics within the primary school Mathematics syllabus? Are you not encouraging parents to seek for examination question papers before the scheduled dates for each examination; or are you not encouraging parents to seek to bribe invigilators to dictate answers to their children in the examination halls? This concerns all Examining Boards in the three tiers of the educational system. This further discourages the child from studying seriously on his own for any examination.

5. MISPLACED PRIORITY:
The government seems to be placing priority on the development of infrastructures in schools above the development of the Cognitive Domain of the child which will make him become what God has created him to be. Just as much as I believe that our schools should have very good infrastructure and facilities, it should NEVER be given a place of priority over the mental development of the man-child. The mental development of the man-child has to do with the quality of the classroom teaching, as a foundation beginning from the primary school.

6. SCHOOLS OVER-DEPENDENCE ON”WEEKLY ASSESSMENT BOOKS”:
An innumerable number of authors across Nigeria have come up with what they call, “Weekly Assessment” books which they allege, have been prepared based on the New Curriculum Modules (UBE). These Weekly Assessment books neither teach the “Principles of Mathematics nor the Methodology of Mathematics”. If one may ask, “Does the New Curriculum Modules in Mathematics (UBE) say that Principles and Methodology in primary school Mathematics should not be taught or should be abandoned?
Yet these Weekly Assessment books have not only infiltrated but have dominated about 90% of the entire primary schools in our education sector even to the neglect of the use of standard textbooks in the teaching of Mathematics. Obviously, there is gross over-dependence on these books by the majority of our primary schools, which is not good for our education system.

For contact, call: 08074407270, 09080388929
Elder T.M.D. OFETON
Director of Studies

I hope this gets to the authorities