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With more than 10 million Nigerian children of school age not enrolled, stakeholders are concerned about the attainment of the Millennium Development Goal (MDG) of universal primary education by 2015. Dr Ahmed Modibbo, the Executive Secretary of the Universal Basic Education Commission gave the figure last week at a two-day retreat in Bauchi on the challenges facing the basic education scheme.
Of the eight MDGs devised by the UN, the achievement of universal primary education ranks second after eradication of extreme poverty and hunger by 2015. Modibbo said although the commission had achieved success in terms of raising pupil enrolment, there was still room for improvement.
The national document on the MDGs supports Modibbo’s claims, as mounting challenges dog the basic education scheme, according to a News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) national survey.
The challenges range from poor funding, dearth of teachers, classrooms and furniture to other learning facilities. For instance, some 590,655 teachers across the country serve the primary education needs of around 24.77 million children.
In the survey, the Kebbi State UBE Board (SUBEB) identified inadequate funding, qualified teachers, infrastructure and furniture as impediments to the provision of free education to 29,800 pupils in primary and junior secondary (JS) schools.
The Secretary of the board, Malam Sodangi Bello, told NAN in Birnin Kebbi that most of the teachers in the 151 primary and JS schools were unqualified, while inadequate funding for administrative purposes remained a setback.He said that in addition to sponsoring grade II teachers to obtain the mandatory NCE in line with the Federal Government directive, at least 1,000 teachers would be employed in view of rising pupil enrolment.
The provision of textbooks in core subjects under the basic education scheme was being done jointly by the state and federal authorities, while notebooks were partly provided by the state and parents, he said.
Bello said that 65 million Naira was spent monthly to feed JS school students, while 520 million Naira and 270 million Naira were spent on salaries for teachers in JS and primary schools respectively. To boost pupil enrolment, he said that parents who withdrew their daughters from school for marriage were prosecuted in line with state laws.
In Borno, the state government said it had spent more than one billion Naira to construct and renovate 154 classroom blocks across its 1,248 primary schools. Recently, it directed the establishment of boarding primary schools in each of the 27 local government areas to improve the standard and quality of education.
The Executive Chairman of the SUBEB, Alhaji Modu Ngala, said facilities required for conducive learning included raising the number of teachers to 13,000. The others are well equipped science laboratories, boreholes and VIP toilets.
Ngala said the UBE programme had achieved a huge success with pupil enrolment standing at 671,000, while Sangaya Quranic education had been incorporated and Mathematics and English made compulsory for the “Almajiris”.
Meanwhile, the UNICEF state consultant on the Girl Child Education Project, Mrs Naomi Maigawa, has advocated the introduction of a separate budget for girl child education.
In Oyo State, the NUT has asked the government to de-politicise the administration of primary schools to enable the UBE scheme to thrive.
NUT State Secretary Olu Abiala told NAN in Ibadan that the politicisation of school administration was adversely affecting the scheme. “School administration has virtually been crippled. There is a lot of discordant happenings within the education sector in the state, especially between the Ministry of Education and the UBE Board, the Teaching Service Commission and the Office of the Head of Service,” he said.
Abiala said the state government did not seem to trust these agencies, including political functionaries, a development, he noted, was having a crippling effect on the administration of state-owned schools. He cited instances when data, such as school enrolment figures supplied by principals, the Ministry of Education and UBE authorities were discountenanced by the government.
Abiala said that for two consecutive terms, public schools had not received grants from the government.
However, education in the public schools is “largely free’’ as the pupils do not pay tuition and examinations fees, but they are not fed. Pupils are made to buy their textbooks, notebooks and uniforms, while the government provides furniture and some recommended textbooks for the school libraries.
NAN investigation showed that although there are enough classrooms in most state-owned schools, they are in a state of disrepair, with leaking roofs, broken doors, windows, floors and run-down facilities. Owing to the paucity of funds to run the schools, parents, through the various Parent-Teacher Associations (PTAs), contribute hugely to the running of government-owned schools.
The PTAs collect two levies, one is 50 Naira per child per term and the other is “voluntary’’ where some schools charge up to 1,000 Naira a year per child and some even charge more. Parents who spoke with NANsaid they were generally pleased with the UBE scheme, but were of the view that the government could do more.
“Government should provide our children with textbooks, they are too expensive for our meagre resources. We find it difficult getting all the recommended books for our children,’’ said Niyi Adebola, a parent.
From Akure, the Ondo SUBEB has trained 3,758 teachers and education managers at a cost of N100.17 million in the last one year. The Commissioner for Education, Dr Olu Akinkoye, gave the figures to NAN, saying that textbooks in core subjects such as English, Mathematics and the Sciences, worth 100.17 million Naira, were distributed to public primary and JS schools.
He said 146 blocks of six classrooms were constructed in primary schools as against 12 blocks of eight classrooms in JS schools at 138 million Naira. According to him, the state government also provided furniture for pupils, teachers, head teachers and principals at a cost of 43 million Naira. He said 1,200 NCE graduates in specific subjects for primary schools and 120 NCE graduates for JS schools were recruited in partnership with the Federal Government.
Akinkoye said 9,747 teaching staff and 271 non-teaching staff were promoted so as to actualise the government’s policy of providing free and quality primary education. The commissioner said teachers’ salaries were being paid regularly, pointing out that about two billion Naira had been paid as salaries both in the primary and JS schools in the last one year.
Mrs Jumoke Bamidele, a parent, said she was satisfied with the implementation of the UBE scheme in Ondo State in spite of the fact that parents provided uniforms and some textbooks for their wards.
With the adoption of former Governor Sam Egwu’s free and compulsory primary and JS school ducation policy in Ebonyi by Governor Martin Elechi, the government takes care of tuition but does not provide books and uniforms. According to the NAN survey, levies are not imposed on pupils, but the Commissioner for Education, Mr Sunday Okoro, said that if for any reason students were levied, they should not be sent out of class for inability to pay.
“The bottom line is that no Ebonyi child should be denied educational opportunity because of indigence,’’ he said.
To boost teachers’ morale, the government has directed that salaries should be paid not later than 25th of every month.
In Bayelsa, education is free up to JSS III, with the government paying internal examination fees for students as well as providing textbooks and exercise books. The Chairman of the SUBEB, Mr Benson Agadaga, told NAN, however, that facilities in schools in Yenagoa were overstretched. He said the board recruited 1,000 teachers for JS schools last year, but explained that recruitment of teachers for primary schools was the responsibility of local governments.
For the Kaduna State Government, about 20 billion Naira is needed annually to effectively implement the free primary education programme. The Chairman of the SUBEB, Alhaji Bashir Balarabe, said the state also needed more than 16 billion Naira to feed the 1.2 million primary pupils at 50 Naira per pupil per day every year.
In addition, the state required four billion Naira to buy textbooks and school uniforms for the pupils every session, he said, noting that the UBE scheme was being implemented in phases due shortage of funds. “But so far, we have spent 312,526,335 Naira in phases one and two of the programme designed to provide books and uniforms to the school pupils,” he said.
According to him, the government provided 11,040 copies of textbooks in four subjects and two sets of school uniforms to 5,520 pupils in 23 selected primary schools in the first phase. He said the board also spent 281.64 million Naira to provide similar books and uniforms to another 58,921 pupils in 69 schools across the state. The SUBEB chairman said primary schools in the state had enough classrooms as well as teaching and non-teaching staff.
However, PTAs complement the government by imposing levies in the running of the schools. Although there is no law compelling parents to send their children to school, a cross-section of parents who spoke to NAN said they were satisfied with the implementation of the scheme so far.
SUBEB statistics show that the board spent more than 870,441,348 Naira in providing books, furniture and general improvement of the 3,480 primary schools in the state in the last one year. On the other hand, the state government said it had appropriated 27 per cent of this year’s 77.05 billion Naira budget to education. The allocation is one per cent above the 26 per cent recommended by UNESCO.
But in Benue, NAN found that primary school students pay various levies in spite of the introduction of the UBE scheme. The levies, which vary from school to school depending on the locality, ares between 1,500 Naira and 3,000 Naira.
In most parts of the state, pupils buy uniforms, desks, chairs and books as against the objective of a free and compulsory scheme. There are enough trained teachers but poor infrastructure, delay in payment of salaries and arrears have hampered the smooth running of the programme.
Mrs Josephine Habba, National Coordinator, Jire Foundation, an NGO based in Makurdi, alleged that “schools under the scheme still collect levies. The culmination of the levies within a term is equivalent to any amount of money that could have been fixed as school fees.’’
In Lagos State, primary education remains free ever since it formed a cardinal programme of the defunct UPN political party. On books, Mr Tunji Bakare, Head, Press and Public Relations Department, Ministry of Education, said the state had stopped to distribute free textbooks initiated by the Lateef Jakande administration from 1979 to 1983.
“Books are not supplied to pupils and students free for now. But hopefully by the next academic session, the state is planning to give out textbooks on core subjects such as English, Mathematics and the Sciences free to public secondary schools. We are not yet sure if it will also apply to the primary schools as well,’’ Bakare said.
Meantime, the Zamfara government said it had released 573.2 million Naira as counterpart funding for UBE projects across the state. SUBEB Chairman Muhammad Aliyu told NAN in Gusau that the funds would be used to provide additional facilities and structures in schools. According to him, 178 classrooms will be built and 54 others given a facelift, while 78 VIP toilets and libraries will be established in various schools.
In Plateau, the free education policy of the state government does not include the provision of free school uniforms. However, the state provides free textbooks in core subjects such as English, Elementary Science, Mathematics and Social Studies.
The Chairman of the SUBEB, Mrs Sarah Ochekpe, said that the books and other materials such as chalk, registers, lesson notebooks and dusters were bought at a sum of 75.1 million Naira. On the level of involvement of parents in the running of schools, the SUBEB chairman and parents agreed that their roles should be visible.
For the Nasarawa State Government, it has resolved to use persuasion to encourage parents and guardians to enrol their children and wards in school. “Although the government has made it mandatory for parents to take their children to school, we have noticed that compulsion is not the way out. So we now use the services of traditional rulers, religious and community leaders to persuade resistant parents and this is now yielding good fruits,” said Alhaji Abubakar Sabuwa, the SUBEB Chairman.
He said that under the UBE scheme, his department received 280 million Naira every quarter of the year for the development of schools and provision of teaching and learning materials.
In Umuahia North, the Education Secretary of the Local Government Education Authority, Mrs Ijeoma Aguwa, advocated closer ties between the SUBEB at all levels and Local Education Secretaries to achieve the lofty ideals of the UBE scheme.
Aguwa told NAN that various projects were executed in the local council areas without seeking the advice of those who had direct contact with the grassroots. She cited an instance when computer sets were given to a village school in the council area which lacked power supply. “They should allow us to identify the types of projects that need to be sited in our areas because we know the schools that need what,” Aguwa said.
The survey showed that in Cross River, only four primary and four secondary schools in each local government area run the UBE programme without charging fees. In those schools that are tuition free, parents buy books and provide uniforms for their wards.
The state NUT Chairman, Mr Njom Nyambi, said in Calabar that every other public school, apart from the designated UBE schools, charged fees.
In Katsina State, the government spends more than 7.2 billion Naira annually on the payment of primary school teachers’ salaries and other allowances. The SUBEB Chairman, Alhaji Suleiman Kuki, said more than 605 million Naira was being paid as salaries and other allowances promptly to primary school teachers monthly.
“Apart from this, all necessary incentives are being given to the teachers so as to ginger them up for the success of the UBE scheme in the state,” he said.
According to him, a total of 17,157 primary school teachers are currently undergoing training in various courses. There are some 21,000 primary school teachers in Ogun with their monthly salaries and allowances put at 680 million Naira.
The Chairman of the Teaching Service Commission, Chief Segun Okeowo, said the emoluments were being paid promptly. He put the quarterly pay of the teachers at more than two billion Naira and gave an assurance that the state would implement any new salary package approved for them.
In Osun, parents have expressed satisfaction with the implementation of the UBE scheme so far. Many of those who spoke with NAN in Osogbo said they were particularly happy with the school feeding programme aspect of the scheme. Only primary one and two pupils are given the free meals.
In Yobe, the state government is constructing a model boarding primary school in each of the 17 local council areas to boost primary education. According to SUBEB Chairman Suleman Jaji, who spoke through Information Officer Danazumi Lamido, books and other instructional materials are provided free to pupils and students in the primary and JS schools.
For the SUBEB Chairman in Zamfara, Alhaji Muhammad Aliyu, the UBE structure should be reviewed for effective implementation of the programme nationwide. Aliyu told NAN in Gusau that the Federal Government had not made adequate implementation strategies that could guarantee the success of the programme in the various states. He said, however, that primary education in the state was a success in spite of the huge financial burden.
In Akwa Ibom, the UBE scheme is operational, but not totally free as sundry levies are charged. About a week ago, Mrs Ekaete Akpabio, the wife of Governor Godswill Akpabio, launched a 300 million Naira Learning and Playing Aid, meant to be distributed to public primary schools in the state.
There are some 15,300 teachers in the 1,143 primary schools in the state, but the number is reported to be grossly inadequate. An additional 20,000 teachers are needed for effective teaching and learning in the schools. Meantime, the state government has set up 700 Early Childhood Care Development and Education centres in public primary schools in the state.
To empower the Kwara Ministry of Education, Science and Technology to implement an adjusted UBE curriculum, the SUBEB has sent an amendment to the UBE law to the state House of Assembly.
The Commissioner for Education, Science and Technology, Alhaji Bolaji Abdullahi, told NAN that the national UBE curriculum was inapplicable to the peculiar situation of the state. According to him, the national primary school curriculum presumes that pupils must have done two-year pre-primary education, which is not the case in Kwara.
“Kwara State Government has approved a major adjustment in the curriculum of primary and junior education in the state. This will become effective as from the next academic session,” Abdullahi said.
The commissioner said the new curriculum would place emphasis on the development of numeric and literacy skills of primary school children and science education of JS school students.
In Enugu State, Igwe Dumeh Nnamoko of Obolo Uvuru Kingdom, described the UBE scheme as well intended, but blamed the shortcomings on its facilitators in the state. Nnamoko, a royal father from Nkanu East in Enugu, noted that some of the administrators were making “a mess of the programme by collecting illegal fees from pupils”. He also observed that the scheme needed more funding as well as strict supervision to guard against those wanting to use it to enrich themselves.
A cross-section of parents in Sokoto State called on the government to provide all the learning materials to the pupils. “Some schools provide textbooks and after the lesson the school authorities collect them back from the pupils,” a parent, Alhaji Musa Haladu, said.
In Rivers, the NUT has said that the UBE scheme is not being properly implemented. Its Secretary, Mr Samuel Mandah, told NAN in Port Harcourt that the scheme was fraught with inadequacies, noting that government was not providing the basic necessities needed to make the scheme work.
“I want to tell you that implementation is not smooth, staffing is not adequate and salaries are not paid. As I talk to you, salaries for the month of May this year have not been paid, so how will the system work?” he said.
In Jigawa, the Secretary of the SUBEB, Alhaji Garba Halilu, said the government had spent 65 million Naira on the purchase of instructional materials in both JS and primary schools to boost the UBE programme. He said the state government had selected 262 JS and primary schools for renovation to enhance the scheme.
The UBE scheme in Katsina State got a high rating with the Deputy National Chairman of the PTA, Alhaji Balan-Goggo Mohammed, scoring its success 85 per cent. Mohammed, who is also the District Head of Dutsin-ma and the state PTA Chairman, said: “The UBE implementation in Katsina State has achieved 85 per cent success. The programme could have achieved 100 per cent if more schools are established, additional classrooms provided and more teachers recruited.’’
He said that pupil enrolment had increased drastically, but the structures and facilities provided by the UBE programme were overstretched.
For the Taraba government, it has spent 1.9 billion Naira on the payment of matching grant for the 2007/2008 academic session. Similarly, it constructed and rehabilitated classrooms in the primary schools, said the Commissioner for Education, Mr Anthony Adda.
Adda said in Jalingo that the government released 1.3 billion Naira as matching grant and spent N675.7 million on the construction, rehabilitation and furnishing of classrooms as well as capacity building and instructional materials.
But in Kano State, many parents expressed dissatisfaction with the implementation of the UBE scheme. They told NAN that the scheme had not taken proper care of the enrolment of their children graduating from primary schools in JS schools. One of them, Malam Ismail Rabiu, expressed dismay over the huge number of primary school pupils who graduated last year which, according to him, ran into thousands.
“As far as I am concerned, the scheme has not taken off at all because thousands of children who should have been absorbed into the junior secondary schools are still roaming the streets.”
In Ekiti State, Mr Abiodun Oyeleye, the Executive Director of New Initiative for Social Development, an NGO, identified the non-implementation of the Child Rights Law as one of the challenges confronting the UBE scheme. Oyeleye noted that the non-enforcement of the law, which made it mandatory for children to attend school as passed by the state House of Assembly on June 9, 2006, had affected the enrolment of children in the UBE scheme.
“The Ekiti State Child Rights Law mandates all children to be in school, but its non-enforcement by the state government is militating against the enrolment of school children in the UBE programme.”
Meanwhile, the Bauchi SUBEB has begun the training of more than 9,000 teachers to facilitate effective implementation of the nine-year basic education programme. The board’s Chairman, Alhaji Abdullahi Dabo, told NAN that the training was designed to enable grade II teachers to obtain a minimum qualification of NCE.
In Anambra, education from primary one to six in the state does not attract school fees, according to the SUBEB Chairman, Chief Chuma Mbonu. He, however, said that the same did not apply to students in JS schools.
The NUT Chairman in Aba North Local Government Area, Mr Hilary Ogbonna, has advised the Federal Government to set up a team to monitor the implementation of the UBE programme. Ogbonna said this was the only way to ensure the success of the scheme.