Education in Nigeria

Education/Education
System in Nigeria: Is It
Still Effective?
Education/Education System in
Nigeria: Is It Still Effective?
The education system in Nigeria has its basis
on the 6-3-3-4 system, which means the child
begins his/her first education experience with 6
years in the primary school, 3 years in the
junior secondary school and 3 years in the
senior secondary school. He/she finally rounds
it off with a minimum of 4 years in the
university. In most instances anyway, the child
begins with nursery education, which varies
from 2 to 4 years, depending on the particular
education institution. The purpose of this write
up is not to discuss the organization of the
Nigerian education system; rather, the purpose
is to discuss how effective that education
system is.
Casting the mind back to the beginning of
western education system in Nigeria, once can
see that there is a great improvement in the
system of things as many more people tend to
have become educated in the western ways.
However, it is obvious that illiteracy (inability
to read and write) is still prevalent in many
quarters in Nigeria of today. Truth is the threat
posed by illiteracy is incomparable and
capable of bringing the country to its knees.
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Primary Education
At the inception, only individuals with the
national Certificate in Education (NCE) were
qualified to teach in Nigerian primary schools.
However, things have changed to a great extent
and had led to the introduction of individual
with Teacher’s Grade 2 Certificates (TC 2) into
the primary education. This has the overall
effect of reduction in standard of the Nigerian
education system at the primary level.
Secondary Education
Low quality education is offered in many of the
commercial schools and business centers that
provide alternative, but lower-quality secondary
education to students. These students are
forced to opt for these schools in place of the
standard secondary school due to financial
constraints of their parents. Many of such
schools are equally lacking in government
approval due to the low quality education they
offer arising from low quality teachers in their
employment. Those among the commercial
schools that provide top quality education are
just too expensive for the average person to
afford.
The University Secondary schools, Federal
colleges and Government colleges are among
the best secondary schools in Nigeria today,
but a student may never be able to get
admitted into such schools if he/she does not
have well-to-do parents with powerful
connections.
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Tertiary education
The issue off tertiary institution is yet another
worthy of consideration. At the early stage of
tertiary education in Nigeria, Nigerian youths
could get top quality education. However,
things have changed these days as many
tertiary intuitions are more or less commercial
centers, especially the government owned
tertiary institutions; students have to pay their
ways to get admitted into these schools and
not on merit; students pay for grades and may
get high grades they are not able to defend.
Conclusion
The lack of proper regulation and non-
adaptation to quality has made the Nigerian
system of education to lose its past glory. The
problem is not with the educational system;
rather, the problem is with the way the
education system is applied and handled. All
hope is not lost anyway; things can still get
better if the Nigerian government can put its
act together.