Statsocial

According to Peter Okebukola, the former Secretary of NUC, the Federal Govt spends N400,000/student /year in the University of Lagos, which means govt spends 80 million on one level of Biology class each year.

Now let us assume that 200 people spend 4 years studying Biology in Unilag.

After graduation 50% of the graduating class become entrepreneurs(nothing relating to Biology), 20% end up in financial sectors(not related to Biology), 10% end up in civil service(not teaching Biology), 2% become Biology teachers in secondary schools, 14% remain Jobless, 2% retained by Universities or Research Institutes to lecture and, or conduct Research, then 2% work in Biotech based Organizations e.g IVF facilities etc.


As it is only 6% of the total graduating class made any significant use of the Biology certificate ( which are the teachers in Secondary school, the researchers and lecturers and those working in Biotech facilities) meaning govt wasted 300.8 million paying for the tuition of those 94% Biology graduates who ended up in Banks, Auditing Firms, Customer Care Centres, Entrepreneurs, Air force, Navy, Telecoms etc.

Unfortunately this trend is consistent amongst all university courses especially Science based ones. Most after spending years studying a course end up somewhere totally irrelevant to their course of study at the University.


The fact that this 94% Biology graduates could easily fit into other non professional sectors with minimal retraining means that Secondary School education is sufficient for most Nigerians since nothing in the Biology course content makes a person equipped to work in other non related sectors like the Banking Sector for instance. Essentially the knowledge used by most Nigerians in the work place is actually secondary school Knowledge.


So instead of emphasising on University Education what if we intensified the quality of Secondary Education and make it possible for such individuals to get top notch jobs in multiple sectors with minimal one year post-secondary vocational schools?(if needed) - this would discourage many from seeking higher education for the sole purpose of getting jobs which would have cost government a lot of money and would end up not being enough because of the large number of people that the funding would need to cover for.


By removing jobs as the major motivation to seek for higher education, hopefully many would choose to stop at secondary level, seek out vocational schools and either build a career for themselves in non professional sectors or choose to become entrepreneurs which they would eventually had resorted to if they graduated from University and did not find Jobs.


Professional bodies like ICAN, NIM could also consider opening up opportunities for secondary school leavers from commercial dept who are interested in soaring up the career ladder since that Opportunity was always opened up to people without Accounting or Marketing backgrounds at the University.


Now if we can successfully cut out 80% of students seeking higher education for the sole purpose of getting Jobs by providing that same Job with reasonable financial security at the Secondary level we would then have just 20% that are there just for the passion and not because they can have a significant financial or system based advantage over secondary school leavers


Engineers, Doctors, Architects, Zoologist, Microbiologist etc who are there for the passion and not just money can go to classes and have all the funding government initially spends on everybody on just them.


Imagine having just 10 students studying biology at the University of Lagos with the initial 80 million naira being spent on 200 students, we would simply have a class that can be taken on field trips for months, a class that can conduct real life research and end up actually working in their chosen fields due to low numbers of graduates competing for space.


The secret of having this kind of system work however is that govt must ensure that there is no longer a societal or financial dichotomy that places University graduates on a higher pedestal than Secondary leavers. Making sure that the only significant benefit a University graduate would have over a secondary school leaver is the fulfillment that he/she studied and is working in a sector he or she desires.

We then need a top notch Secondary School System that can directly feed a large percentage of the Work force with minimal on the job trainings while some can opt for Vocational/Technical schools where they can also sharpen their skills for Entrepreneurship. The ones who end up in the University would find a system not clogged up by too many Students and can really learn their Course of Study sufficiently as obtainable in any part of the world and then help to turn out meaningful innovations.

Importantly, the aim shouldn't be Government trying to forcefully cut out interested candidates who want University Education but ensuring that Secondary Education is sufficient in attaining great feats and giving career fulfillment that many would see no need to go further if they don't really have passion for it. Govt may have to force companies to recruit only from Secondary Schools while University graduates should work strictly according to their profession. For instance a University Medical Graduate must forgo affiliations with his University degree if he must take a Job alloted to Secondary School Leavers.
To be Continued #Educationpolicy

Lalasticlala Seun Mirand606

Great question there.
I even think the govt should totally fund education for all govt owned schools. Why? Cos there are tax-paying citizens who still can't sent their wards to govt schools due to funding issue.

Writerights TheVictorious I want your opinion
In truth I do not see this kind of policy being accepted by many Nigerians. Of course because Nigerians love their Universities and don't even know why they are there?

But I believe it opens up the question of what importance to society is an Engineer who ends up on the banking front desk of UBA? Or a lawyer who ends up as a Customer Care agent?

How can we justify the billions of Government expenditure on these individuals who end up not working with the said Degrees because the system is saturated.

I do not canvass for increased University funding because I know it would be a waste as long as we have many in the system who need not to be there. So why not just build firmly on secondary education and hasten the lives of the young ones and not take them on a Journey of 4-6 years which would eventually leave many discouraged.

I dare say that much of the money spent by government to train people in Biology, Biochem, Microbiology, Zoology, Physics, Law etc for the past two decades is money wasted because they never work with it. The Country does not reap back what it sows and it is not their fault.

Hmm well that would be such a major policy shift with many consequences. Can't we just provide jobs for people instead? Though one of things I take from this kind of proposal is that the Life of a Nigerian Youth would become as fast as that of youths in Western Nations whereby you can graduate from secondary school at 18 and work in a bank or somewhere else.

If this kind of thing would fly then every one in government must agree yo it. You can't create this kind of system and four years later someone comes and change policy to allow for more ppl in Universities.

You just captured my mind in this piece bro. You'll be my educational minister when I contest for presidency . I'm coming back to reply!

TheVictorious:
You just captured my mind in this piece bro. You'll be my educational minister when I contest for presidency . I'm coming back to reply!

I love Education o