Quality education: Beyond funding
By Thompson Ayodele and Olusegun Sotola
Opinion - Columnists

THE National Examination Council (NECO) and West African Examination Council have recently released their results. Of the total number of students that sat for NECO examinations less than two per cent passed while 25 per cent of students who sat for WAEC passed. The outcomes of the two examinations point to one direction: the decline in the quality of education.

In order to arrest the trend, one of the panicky measures being proposed by the federal government is the abolition of 6-3-3-4 system and reverting to 6-5-4 system which was abandoned in the late 80s. Taking measures to salvage the education sector do not mean simply switching from one system to another alone.

The public policy challenge in the present circumstance is to take a holistic view at the entire sector with a view to seeing what stakeholders have either not done correctly or done with half measure. Changing systems do not actually solve the challenges associated with the decline in quality of education. When the current system was embarked on there was noticeable downward trend in the education sector which necessitated changing to a different system.

Many individuals and organisations including labour unions and the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) would quickly jump to the conclusion that fallen standard has a strong connection with poor funding and that the budgetary allocation is paltry when juxtapose with the need of the sector.

This argument seems not to hold much water. There are reasons to believe the fallen in standards quality of education cannot be solved through quantitative increase in allocation alone. In monetary terms, the allocation to the sector has always been increasing without a corresponding increase in quality. That means, if funding is the real problem, there ought to have been a commensurate improvement in view of the investments in the sector.

In the last five years, investment in the sector has increased by over 56%. For instance, the total federal allocation in 2006 was N166.6 billion; in 2008 it grew to N220.9 billion and became N259 billion in 2010. It is not obvious that the present output quality justifies investment by the governments and parents. Although the capital budget fell from N52.3 billion in 2008 to N40 billion in 2009, the total recurrent expenditure in the 2008 and 2009 budget grew from N168.6 billion to N184.6 billion. This means investment in the sector is more pronounced in the payment of salaries and other wages in line with core demands ofthe unions.

There has been a clamour for increased funding. But little is done to
actually address the quality of those who train the students. At primary and secondary level, those who ended up teaching are there because there is no other alternative job. A visit to schools in the hinterland will reveal a large gap between the number of hours teachers spent on teaching activities and on non-teaching activities. Many of the pupils either perform chores in the teachers’ house or farm during the school hours. Attertiary level the story is not different. The ability to effectively impact knowledge and lecture is lacking in some lecturers. When this is noticed, such lecturers resort to high-handedness.

The qualities of publications used by students are largely of poor quality when compared with the ones in other parts of the world. The standard practice in academics the world over is for lecturers to have research issues they are working. They are required to turn out the outcome of the research in a timely manner. But this is not the case. It is not surprising to discover that the contents of most books referred to as departmental publications are largely substandard. Ironically these are publications that students are mandated to read. The end result is half-baked graduates that employers find unemployable upon graduation.

In addition, a lecturer required to teach a particular course all through the semester uses just one or two weeks to round up the entire course. It is anybody’s guess what would be the quality of students that are produced through this process. Contrary to what is being peddled about, a substantial part of the problem might not be caused by students per se.

A huge number of students when they go elsewhere around the world for education do perform better. Moreover, there is a considerable decline of academics influence in public discourse and ideas generation. By the nature of their work, academics are at a vantage position to influence and mould public opinions.

This seems not to be the case when measured through media commentaries and publications. Though this might not be because of lack of ability, but it is an indication that the cause of the declining standard is systemic.

Already many parents are voting with their feet in public schools. Even poor parents are moving away their kids out of public schools because they do not to see active teaching taking place. That means the present administration should move beyond simply convening special emergency summit to address mass failure in public examinations and the poor quality of graduates of tertiary institutions. Instead there is the need to take a critical look at the entire education policy and accommodate noticeable
trends used in shoring up the quality of education elsewhere.

This calls for change of policies and redefine the roles being played by private entrepreneurs in the provision of education. The current system gives so much power to officials rather than parents or pupils.

Restructuring education policies and redefining roles of education’s
stakeholders in the delivery of education are essential. Evidence has
shown centrally managed education monopolies are no longer able to meet Nigerians educational demands.

The amount allocated to public education is usually one of the biggest items in states and federal governments budgets. But the amount each tier of government spends on each student is hard to come by. Knowing how much is spent per student/pupil and making it public will throw more light intothe issue of funding and ease the measurement of quality and quantity.

Furthermore it will give an insight into whether the introduction of a
voucher system which fund student/pupil directly will be more
quality-inclined. An education voucher is a form of payment issued by the government to parents who in turn use the voucher as evidence of payment of tuitions in their choice of school. The schools collect vouchers from the students and deposit them with their bankers. The banks then credit the school accounts by equivalent money while debiting the account of the
government. No money actually changes hands.

What goes to each school in terms of funding will be dependent on the total numbers of vouchers collected. This system makes schools to be efficient and leads to a better quality. Apart from giving parents much leeway to choose the school they prefer for their children, the advantages of this is that it will trigger competition among public schools as well as between public and private schools. Above all, aside from improving accountability it will naturally weed out schools that are not delivering adequate teaching.

The quality of education being dished out should be a concern to all.
Development in the 21st Century springs from ideas. Ideas come from informed minds. That means Nigeria needs to develop a radical approach towards revamping education. Merely changing from 6-3-3-4 to 6-5-4 alone will not necessarily arrest the decline of standards.

• Ayodele and Sotola are with the Initiative for Public Policy Analysis, a public policy think tank based in Lagos.
 

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